Raman Spectroscopy for Early Cancer Detection, Diagnosis and Elucidation of Disease-Specific Biochemical Changes - Emerging Raman Applications and Techniques in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Fields - page 309

13
Raman Spectroscopy for Early Cancer
Detection, Diagnosis and Elucidation
of Disease-Specific Biochemical Changes
Nicholas Stone and Catherine A. Kendall
Abstract Raman spectroscopy can provide a wealth of diagnostic information to
the clinician, with potential in vivo application at endoscopy, outpatient clinic or in
surgery, and unstained molecular histopathology in the laboratory. In this chapter
we explore the potential of Raman spectroscopy for the detection and diagnosis
of two important cancers, breast and oesophageal. These are used to illustrate the
differing requirements for disease diagnostics in solid and hollow organs.
13.1 Introduction
Overall, it is estimated that more than one in three people will develop some
form of cancer during their lifetime [1]. Traditional methods of cancer diag-
nosis involve surveillance of at-risk populations or investigation of suspicious
symptoms. Unfortunately, often by the time a patient is symptomatic it is too
late to facilitate a full cure. However, most cancers need not be killers if they
can be exposed to the wide range of improving treatments at an early stage.
The primary requirement for the successful treatment of any malignancy is
early accurate detection.
There is great interest in developing optical techniques to perform in vivo
pathology and detailed morphological assessment, with the prospect of pro-
gressing to optical molecular diagnostics of biomarkers. Raman spectroscopy
is an optical technique which can interrogate biological tissues, probing the
changes in molecular structure that occur with disease, measuring in effect a
characteristic tissue fingerprint. Raman spectroscopy can provide rapid, non-
invasive, near patient, measurement of tissue biochemistry. This would allow
specific targeting of potential abnormalities and early degeneration that can
then be ablated using minimally invasive techniques. It has demonstrated po-
tential in addressing the significant challenge of improved diagnosis in several
areas of clinical need in the field of oncology as illustrated in Fig. 13.1.
Since the 1990s several groups have used Raman spectroscopy to distin-
guish between normal and neoplastic tissue. The first studies looked at differ-
entiating between normal tissue and advanced cancers in the breast [2] and