Imaging system for detection of intraoperative contrast agents in tissue

A system for imaging a tissue specimen comprising:

• a) a first optical sub-system configured to acquire high-resolution images of a distribution of a cell-associated contrast agent within the tissue specimen using a first optical-sectioning imaging modality;
• b) a second optical sub-system configured to acquire high-resolution images of tissue specimen morphology using a second optical-sectioning imaging modality, wherein the first and second optical sub-systems are configured to image the same optical plane within the tissue specimen;
• and
• c) a processor configured to run an image interpretation algorithm that processes the images acquired using either or both of the first and second optical-sectioning imaging modalities to identify individual cells and determine their locations, and outputs a quantitative measure of a signal derived from the cell-associated contrast agent by measuring the signal at the locations corresponding to those of the individual cells in the images acquired using the first imaging modality.