Evaluation of Raman probe for oesophageal cancer diagnostics.
Early detection of (pre-)cancerous changes improves prognosis, therefore in the UK patients at high risk of developing gastrointestinal cancers are enrolled on endoscopic surveillance programmes or the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. The current gold standard technique for the detection of pre-cancerous changes in the gastrointestinal tract is histopathological analysis of biopsy tissue collected at endoscopy. This relies upon subjective assessment of morphological changes within the excised tissue samples and poor targeting of pre-malignant lesions. Raman spectroscopy offers a number of potential advantages for in vivo assessment of tissue at endoscopy. The performance of a custom built Raman probe as a biopsy targeting tool has been evaluated using excised biopsy material. Multivariate classification models have been used to demonstrate the likely ability of a miniature, confocal, fibre optic Raman probe to be used as an optical biopsy tool at endoscopy to provide spectral information in clinically practicable timescales. This technique could facilitate improved targeting of excisional biopsy with associated clinical benefits.
Biophotonics Research Group, Leadon House, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Great Western Road, Gloucester, GL1 3NN, UK.
Catherine
C
Kendall
John
J
Day
Joanne
J
Hutchings
Brian
B
Smith
Neil
N
Shepherd
Hugh
H
Barr
Nicholas
N
Stone
D001706:Biopsy; D004724:Endoscopy; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods*