System to differentiate and identify types of tissue within a region proximate to a working end of a surgical instrument

A surgical system configured to differentiate and identify types of tissue within a region proximate to a working end of a surgical instrument, comprising:

• at least one light emitter disposed at the working end of the surgical instrument;
• at least one light sensor disposed at the working end of the surgical instrument, facing in a common direction as the at least one light emitter, and configured to receive light emitted from the at least one light emitter and reflected from the region, the at least one light sensor configured to generate a signal comprising a first pulsatile component and a second non-pulsatile component;
• and
• a controller coupled to the at least one light sensor, the controller comprising a splitter configured to separate the first pulsatile component from the second non-pulsatile component and an analyzer configured to differentiate between types of nonvascular tissue within the region proximate to the working end of the surgical instrument based on the second non-pulsatile component and to determine the presence of the vessel within the region proximate to the working end of the surgical instrument based on the first pulsatile component.