Neurosurgical Methods And Systems For Detecting And Removing Tumorous Tissue

An ultrasonic surgical system comprising:

• an ultrasonic instrument configured to resect brain tissue of a patient;
• a sample element coupled to the ultrasonic instrument and including at least one fiber configured to collect a fluorescent light emitted from the brain tissue;
• an indicator coupled to the ultrasonic instrument and configured to selectively emit light;
• an electrode configured to apply electrical stimulation to the brain tissue;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• detect a type of brain tissue based on the fluorescent light;
• activate the indicator based on the detected type of brain tissue;
• and
• generate an alert when the electrical stimulation produces a predefined response from the patient.

A method of assembling an ultrasonic surgical system, the method comprising:

• providing an ultrasonic handpiece;
• coupling an ultrasonic tip configured to resect brain tissue to the ultrasonic handpiece;
• coupling at least one fiber configured to collect a fluorescent light emitted from the brain tissue and an indicator configured to indicate a type of the brain tissue based on the collected fluorescent light to an irrigation sleeve;
• and
• coupling the irrigation sleeve to a distal end of the ultrasonic handpiece and surrounding the tip such that a distal end of the tip is distal to a distal end of the irrigation sleeve.