{
  "abstract": "Background/objectives\n\nAccurate intraoperative identification of the tumor-brain interface is important in brain metastasis surgery, but visual assessment under white light is subjective. Narrow-band imaging (NBI) enhances hemoglobin-dependent optical contrast without an exogenous agent; whether its intraoperative appearance corresponds to tumor tissue, and whether it measurably increases tumor-to-normal image contrast, has not been established in this setting.Methods\n\nIn this retrospective, single-center, exploratory study, we evaluated 25 consecutive patients with brain metastases resected using a 4K three-dimensional exoscope equipped with NBI. In three selected patients, spatially adjacent specimens were separately sampled from grayish-appearing and whitish-appearing regions and assessed histopathologically in a non-blinded, descriptive manner. In all 25 patients, paired white-light and NBI images were retrospectively analyzed in Fiji/ImageJ using regions of interest drawn over tissue visually judged to be tumor or normal brain.Results\n\nIn the three patients with paired histology, grayish-appearing specimens contained metastatic tumor cells and whitish-appearing specimens did not; this observation derives from a small, selectively sampled subset and should be regarded as preliminary. Across all 25 patients, absolute tumor-to-normal gray-value contrast was significantly greater under NBI than white light (69.628 ± 45.338 vs. 44.287 ± 29.640; mean paired increase, 25.342; 95% CI, 9.169-41.514; p = 0.0035; Cohen's dz = 0.647), although this increase was not observed in all patients.Conclusions\n\nIn this exploratory, non-blinded, retrospective study, NBI increased objective image contrast between visually identified tumor and normal brain relative to white light, and its grayish appearance corresponded to tumor tissue in a small histologically sampled subset. These findings support NBI as a feasible, agent-free adjunct that warrants prospective, blinded validation before its diagnostic accuracy or clinical benefit can be assessed.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Neurological Surgery, Nippon Medical School Musashi-Kosugi Hospital, 1-383 Kosugi-machi, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki 211-8533, Kanagawa, Japan.",
    "Department of Neurological Surgery, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8603, Japan.",
    "Department of Neurological Surgery, Nippon Medical School Chiba-Hokusoh Hospital, 1715 Kamagari, Inzai 270-1694, Chiba, Japan."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 9,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Tadashi Higuchi",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2528-468X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Shinsuke Abe"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Satsuki Imaoka"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Taisei Aoki"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yohei Nounaka",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9858-6083"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Atsushi Tsukiyama"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Fumihiro Matano",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0760-5024"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Shigeyuki Tahara",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8429-2028"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Yasuo Murai",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9753-1873"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/32kzgdf6gwmhm.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/cancers18193171",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13664459",
  "id": "32kzgdf6gwmhm",
  "issns": [
    "2072-6694"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42882863",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2741|Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy Techniques"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7215128249",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13664459?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13664459",
  "pmid": "42882863",
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/32kzgdf6gwmhm.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:00Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42882863",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42882863"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:58Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/cancers18193171",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/18/19/3171"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2741|Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy Techniques",
      "subfield": "imaging"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Histopathological and Quantitative Correlates of Intraoperative Narrow Band Imaging in Brain Metastasis Surgery.",
  "title_text": "Histopathological and Quantitative Correlates of Intraoperative Narrow Band Imaging in Brain Metastasis Surgery.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:58Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/32kzgdf6gwmhm",
  "venue": "Cancers",
  "versions": []
}