System and method for localization of fluorescent targets in deep tissue for guiding surgery

A system for identifying a source of fluorescence in tissue, comprising:

• a light source configured to be shone on a subject, the light source configured to illuminate tissue of a subject at a first wavelength, and in response cause emission of light at a second wavelength from a source of fluorescence;
• an optical filter configured to filter out light having the first wavelength and allow passage of light having the second wavelength;
• an image capture device configured to capture images of the tissue at the second wavelength;
• and
• a processor having software encoded on a non-transitory computer readable medium configured to:
• capture at least one 2 dimensional (2D) image of a subject having a plurality of pixels;
• establish information about approximate location in the captured 2D image of the source of fluorescence within the tissue of the subject;
• identify a region of the interest about the approximate location of the source of fluorescence;
• establish a 3 dimensional (3D) topography data of the subject at least about the region of interest;
• map each pixel of the region of interest of the at least one captured 2D image to the 3D topography data;
• selectively generate a 3D geometric model based on a plurality of parameters including optical parameters of the tissue as well as the mapped pixels of the region of interest on the 3D topography data, wherein the 3D geometric model outputs a modeled 2D image representation of the at least one 2D captured image;
• compare the modeled 2D image representation to the at least one captured 2D image and generate an error signal representing a difference therebetween;
• iteratively adjust the plurality of parameters of the 3D geometric model to minimize the error signal;
• and
• output a location and a geometric configuration with respect to the 3D geometric model of the source of fluorescence within the tissue within the region of interest.