Raman Spectroscopy of Head and Neck Cancer: Separation of Malignant and Healthy Tissue Using Signatures Outside the "Fingerprint" Region.

Stephen Holler,Christopher Mazzeo,Michael J Donovan,Elaina Mansley,Maximiliano Sobrero,Brett A Miles

doi:10.3390/bios7020020

Stephen Holler, Christopher Mazzeo + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/bios7020020

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Abstract

The ability to rapidly and accurately discriminate between healthy and malignant tissue offers surgeons a tool for in vivo analysis that would potentially reduce operating time, facilitate quicker recovery, and improve patient outcomes. To this end, we investigate discrimination between diseased tissue and adjacent healthy controls from patients with head and neck cancer using near-infrared Raman spectroscopy. Our results indicate previously unreported peaks in the Raman spectra that lie outside the conventional “fingerprint” region (400 –1800 ) played an important role in our analysis and in discriminating between the tissue classes. Preliminary multivariate statistical analyses of the Raman spectra indicate that discrimination between diseased and healthy tissue is possible based on these peaks.

Highlights

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is currently ranked as the 6th most common cancer in the world
The results from this study indicate that one can readily differentiate between cancerous and noncancerous tissue samples by analyzing the spectroscopic data obtained through Raman spectroscopy
There are some notable differences in the two spectra that enable discrimination between the healthy and malignant tissue samples

Summary

Introduction

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is currently ranked as the 6th most common cancer in the world. There are an estimated 650,000 incident cases and over 300,000 resultant deaths from head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) annually [1]. Human Papillomavirus (HPV) has increasingly been recognized as a major risk factor in this type of cancer, especially in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Two high-risk strains of HPV (16,18) are oncogenic and are responsible for 12.8%–59.9% of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas [2,3]. Removal of malignant tissue requires a careful balance of options: remove too much and it may negatively impact the patient’s quality of life, or remove too little and the cancer will return. A pathologist is required to determine whether or not the surgical margins are positive or negative, which takes a significant amount of time

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