Using a new type of visible light-based emission fluorescence microscope to identify the benign and malignant nature of thyroid tissue during the surgical process: Analysis of diagnostic results.

OBJECTIVE

This study evaluated the accuracy and reliability of a new type of visible light-based emission fluorescence microscope [the EndoSCell cell optical scanner (EndoSCell)] in identifying the pathological features of papillary thyroid carcinoma, the spread of lymph nodes in the neck, and the parathyroid glands.

METHOD: The thyroid papillary carcinoma tissue samples, lymph node tissue samples, and parathyroid tissue samples were diagnosed using EndoSCell images and frozen sections, and the detection times were recorded. The Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining results were used as the gold standard.

RESULT: EndoSCell boasts extremely high imaging clarity, enabling it to clearly distinguish the spatial distribution and morphological characteristics of stained cell nuclei and cytoplasm within the observed tissue samples (healthy tissues, lesion areas). The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of using EndoSCell images to determine the benign or malignant nature of thyroid papilloma, the presence of cervical lymph node metastasis, and the status of parathyroid tissue were (96.43%, 100%, 97.22%), (92.6%, 92.3%, 92.5%), and (91.3%, 91.7%, 91.4%), respectively. The detection times for EndoSCell and frozen sections were 180.77 ± 45.03 s and 1835 ± 538.12 s respectively.

CONCLUSION

The diagnostic efficacy of EndoSCell is comparable to that of frozen sections, and the diagnostic results of EndoSCell are highly consistent with the pathological diagnosis of frozen sections. EndoSCell is expected to enable doctors to precisely and accurately remove cancerous tissues in real time while protecting important tissues such as the parathyroid glands and the recurrent laryngeal nerve.