Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for comprehensive urinalysis: advances, challenges, and clinical perspectives.

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Biomedical Engineering
• Urology

Background:

• Urine analysis is crucial for understanding systemic and urological health.
• Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) provides sensitive, label-free molecular profiling of biofluids.
• SERS minimizes sample preparation and offers rapid detection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in SERS-based urinalysis for clinical applications.
• To explore SERS applications in renal function assessment, infection detection, drug monitoring, and cancer screening.
• To highlight progress in nanostructured substrates, microfluidics, and data analysis for SERS urinalysis.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent literature on SERS applications in urinalysis.
• Focus on nanostructured substrates for enhanced signal detection.
• Integration of microfluidic devices for sample handling and processing.
• Application of chemometrics and machine learning for spectral data interpretation.

Main Results:

• SERS enables detection of pathogens, antimicrobial resistance, and drug metabolites in urine.
• Metabolic and biomarker patterns identified by SERS aid in cancer screening.
• Developments in technology facilitate multiplexed detection and clinical endpoint correlation.

Conclusions:

• SERS-based urinalysis demonstrates significant potential for precise diagnosis and treatment in urology.
• Further research is needed to improve detection reproducibility and establish standardized spectral databases.
• SERS is a promising tool for advancing personalized medicine in urological care.