Raman micro-spectroscopy for classification of nasopharyngeal tissue in vitro

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is one of the most serious diseases which is mostly found in Asia, especially in South China. Early detection and diagnosis is crucial to effective treatment and can greatly improve survival rate. Recent developments in tissue spectroscopy may significantly expand our ability to diagnose this tumor rapidly and accurately. In this work, Raman spectra of nasopharyngeal tissue in vitro were acquired and analyzed with principal component analysis. Consistent spectral differences appear to exist between normal and cancerous tissue, mainly in five bands located at 853cm(-1), 937cm(-1), 1094cm(-1), 1260-1340cm(-1), 1530-1580 cm(-1), respectively. Statistical analysis was performed using PCA which can easily divide the samples to two groups with a high sensitivity and specificity. The results presented here demonstrate Raman spectroscopy has the potential ability to detect and diagnose cancerous tissue non-destructively and rapidly which may be a very helpful diagnosis tool in the future.