The prospect of undergoing a surgical procedure with the operating room lights dimmed or switched off would probably make a lot of people bristle.

But with some procedures, darkened operating environments make sense because they allow surgical teams to use fluorescent compounds that highlight particular tissues in patients’ bodies.

This imaging technique is known as fluorescence image-guided surgery (FIGS). According to the Journal of Clinical Oncology, FIGS allows for more sensitive and specific tumor detection than is possible with other imaging techniques today. Read the full story here.