Optical diagnosis of oral cavity lesions by label-free Raman spectroscopy
Levi Matthies, Medhanie Tesfay Gebrekidan, Jasper F. Tegtmeyer, Nicolai Oetter, Maximilian Rohde, Tobias Vollkommer, Ralf Smeets, Waldemar Wilczak, Florian Stelzle, Martin Gosau, Andreas Braeuer, Christian Knipfer
Abstract
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most prevalent cancers and frequently preceded by non-malignant lesions. Using Shifted-Excitation Raman Difference Spectroscopy (SERDS), principal component and linear discriminant analysis in native tissue specimens, 9500 raw Raman spectra of OSCC, 4300 of non-malignant lesions and 4200 of physiological mucosa were evaluated. Non-malignant lesions were distinguished from physiological mucosa with a classification accuracy of 95.3% (95.4% sensitivity, 95.2% specificity, area under the curve (AUC) 0.99). Discriminating OSCC from non-malignant lesions showed an accuracy of 88.4% (93.7% sensitivity, 76.7% specificity, AUC 0.93). OSCC was identified against physiological mucosa with an accuracy of 89.8% (93.7% sensitivity, 81.0% specificity, AUC 0.90). These findings underline the potential of SERDS for the diagnosis of oral cavity lesions.