Method and device for monitoring the fluorescence emitted at the surface of a biological tissue

A method for monitoring diffusion of a fluorescent marker within a region of biological tissue, said method comprising:

• using a camera, acquiring fluorescence images from said region, wherein each of said fluorescence images corresponds to a set of pixels, wherein a value of a fluorescence signal is associated with at least certain ones of said pixels, wherein said value represents an intensity of fluorescence emission from said region, during perfusion of said fluorescent marker, measuring diffusion areas in at least two of said acquired fluorescence images, said diffusion areas being areas in which said marker has diffused, comparing said diffusion areas, and based on said comparison, automatically determining that a change in said diffusion areas has reached a threshold sufficient for at least a portion of one of said two acquired images to be displayed.

An apparatus comprising a device for monitoring fluorescence emitted from a surface of biological tissue, said device comprising a probe, a computer, and a display, wherein said probe comprises a camera for capturing fluorescence images, an excitation source suitable for emitting excitation radiation for exciting a fluorescence marker, and a fluorescence sensor for detecting fluorescence light emitted at said surface, wherein said computer is configured to record and to store fluorescence images captured by said camera and to carry out processing of said fluorescence images, said computer comprising memory for recording and storing values that correspond to an intensity of a fluorescence signal that is emitted from said surface and that is associated with said pixels of each fluorescence image, and wherein said computer is configured to execute instructions to normalize, align, and sum, pixel-by-pixel, at least two fluorescence images to generate a summed fluorescence image and to colorize said resulting summed fluorescence image, thereby generating a colorized fluorescence image, and wherein said display is configured to display a summed fluorescence image and said colorized fluorescence image.