Study of oral cavity lesions by infrared spectroscopy

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy is considered a useful tool in the biomedical field, for analysing in situ and at cellular level, very small areas of tissues and cells, with minimal sample preparation and without the use of stains or probes. This spectroscopic technique has been successfully applied to analyse biological samples from patients affected by tumoral pathologies, with particular attention to oral cavity lesions. In this study, we describe the application of FTIR microspectroscopy to characterize and discriminate the most recurrent benign and malignant diseases of oral cavity compartment. Infrared maps were acquired on tissues affected by the following pathologies: squamous cell carcinoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma, polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma, squamous dysplasia, keratocystic odontogenic tumor, radicular cyst, residual cyst, unicystic ameloblastoma, and ameloblastic fibroma, together with healthy tissue samples (used as control group). The epithelial and connective components of all samples were distinguished and submitted to multivariate analysis. The results were in agreement with histological suggestions.