A monolithic microsphere-fiber probe for spatially resolved Raman spectroscopy: Application to head and neck squamous...

Area of Science:

• Surgical Oncology
• Biomedical Optics
• Spectroscopy

Background:

• Accurate identification of cancer margins during surgery is crucial for patient well-being.
• Current methods carry risks of removing too much or too little tissue, impacting recovery and prognosis.
• Minimizing operative time and improving tissue excision accuracy are key surgical goals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the use of Raman spectroscopy with a novel monolithic microsphere-fiber probe for in vivo oral cavity cancer margin identification.
• To assess the probe's capability in differentiating between malignant and healthy tissues.
• To evaluate the probe's potential for optimizing surgical tissue removal and improving patient outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Raman spectroscopy with a monolithic microsphere-fiber probe.
• Analyzed both malignant and healthy oral cavity tissues in vivo.
• Compared the probe's analyzed area size to conventional fiber reflection probes.

Main Results:

• The microsphere-fiber probe significantly decreased the analyzed area size by over an order of magnitude compared to conventional probes.
• Distinct variations in Raman spectra were observed between malignant and healthy tissues.
• The probe demonstrated the ability to differentiate between cancerous and normal tissue types.

Conclusions:

• The high spatial resolution of the Raman spectroscopy microsphere-fiber probe enables detailed identification of tumor margins.
• This technology has the potential to optimize tissue excision during surgery.
• Improved margin identification is expected to lead to better patient prognoses and outcomes.