Peroperative optical autofluorescence biopsy--verification of its diagnostic potential

The authors tested the diagnostic potential of the portable autofluorescence optical system that was developed in the preoperative evaluation of resection margins, and thus of the resection line safety in patients with low-positioned colorectal carcinoma. A total of 217 spectral measurements of the fluorescence properties of normal (117) and malignant (100) tissues in 19 patients with colorectal carcinoma were accomplished. The measured spectra thus acquired were then evaluated using logistic regression. Using the principal component method, the authors selected the 30 and 40 most significant wavelengths, respectively, which they then used to construct the logistic model. The model met the basic criteria of statistical significance. The classification power of the model was 79.7% (for 30 wavelengths) and 82.5% (for 40). Statistical discrimination was 0.88 and 0.91, respectively. These results confirm that the optical setup that we selected is suitable for the peroperative testing of the distal resection line. It is capable of differentiating with 90% confidence pathological tissue and thus of reliably guiding further histological processing.