FT-Raman spectroscopy for the differentiation between cutaneous melanoma and pigmented nevus

Cutaneous melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer and Ft-Raman spectroscopy has been studied as a potential method that could be a real alternative for early diagnosis of neoplasms.

To qualify the spectral FT-Raman data, in order to differentiate cutaneous melanoma and pigmented nevus.

For this study, 10 samples of cutaneous melanoma, 9 samples of pigmented nevi, and 10 samples of normal skin were obtained by incisional biopsies performed during plastic surgeries ex vivo, immediately after removing the surgical sample.

The FT-Raman spectra of each group presented a high correlation between the elements of the same group, thus favoring the elaboration of spectral averages. When analyzing the spectral standard of each group, the normal skin standard did not show a significant variation between the spectra; the standard of the pigmented nevi group showed significant variation, and the cutaneous melanoma group also showed variation. Through univariate analysis, specific bands were detected for each vibrational mode identified. The discriminatory analysis of the data showed a 75.3% efficiency of the differentiation between the three groups studied.

The vibrational modes Polysaccharides, Tyrosine and Amide-I differentiated the melanoma from the pigmented nevus.