To improve the measurement of ICG fluorescence perfusion in neonatal intestinal surgery through advanced deep learning-based point tracking techniques.
Approach:
Key Findings:
CoTracker3-based tracking maintained stable correspondence throughout challenging segments, unlike PerfusionTech, which struggled with non-rigid motion.
There was near-perfect agreement for temporal metrics and strong concordance for intensity- and slope-related measures between the proposed method and PerfusionTech, indicating improved measurement reliability.
Interpretation:
The proposed method enhances the reliability of ICG fluorescence quantification and spatially resolved perfusion mapping in neonatal surgery.
Limitations:
The evaluation was limited to a small dataset of six neonatal patients, which may affect the generalizability of the findings.
The comparison with PerfusionTech excluded cases where ROI tracking failed, potentially biasing the results.
Conclusion:
The study demonstrates the potential of deep learning techniques to improve intraoperative assessment of bowel perfusion in neonates.