title: Advances in the in Vivo Raman Spectroscopy of Malignant Skin Tumors Using Portable Instrumentation.
abstract: Raman spectroscopy has emerged as a promising tool for real-time clinical diagnosis of malignant skin tumors offering a number of potential advantages: it is non-intrusive, it requires no sample preparation, and it features high chemical specificity with minimal water interference. However, in vivo tissue evaluation and accurate histopathological classification remain a challenging task for the successful transition from laboratory prototypes to clinical devices. In the literature, there are numerous reports on the applications of Raman spectroscopy to biomedical research and cancer diagnostics. Nevertheless, cases where real-time, portable instrumentations have been employed for the in vivo evaluation of skin lesions are scarce, despite their advantages in use as medical devices in the clinical setting. This paper reviews the advances in real-time Raman spectroscopy for the in vivo characterization of common skin lesions. The translational momentum of Raman spectroscopy towards the clinical practice is revealed by (i) assembling the technical specifications of portable systems and (ii) analyzing the spectral characteristics of in vivo measurements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece. nkourkou@cc.uoi.gr.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kourkoumelis
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece. ibalats@cc.uoi.gr.
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Balatsoukas
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece. biomoulia@yahoo.gr.
authors.forename: Violetta
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Moulia
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece. e.aspa@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Aspasia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Elka
authors.affiliation: Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece. ggaitan@uoi.gr.
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gaitanis
authors.affiliation: Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece. ibassuka@cc.uoi.gr.
authors.forename: Ioannis D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Bassukas
mesh_terms: D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Raman spectroscopy; in vivo spectroscopy; skin cancer