Optical Spectroscopy: A Promising
Diagnostic Tool for Breast Lesions
1574-1577
Correspondence
Dr. Sanjay Kala
L-21 GSVM Medical College, Kanpur
U.P., India - 208002
Phone: +919839210012
E-mail: dr_sanjay_kala@yahoo.com
Background: With the rising trend of breast cancer, there is a need to develop a diagnostic procedure which can solve the problem of differentiating the benign and malignant lumps and of detecting breast cancer at an early stage. Intrinsic fluorescence is an important step in this regards. Auto-fluorescence from biological tissues involves evaluating the biomolecular environment through optical spectroscopy.
Aim of study: To study the role of optical spectroscopy in differentiating the benign from the malignant breast lesions by detecting the change in the intrinsic fluorescence, especially of Flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) and porphyrins.
Method: A study of 37 patients with breast lumps was done, out of which 14 had benign and 23 had malignant lesions. After excision for the intrinsic fluorescence study, fresh samples were taken and excited by using an optical spectrophotometer.
Results: This study showed that intrinsic fluorescence is a good method of investigation with a sensitivity of 68% and a specificity of 73%.
Conclusion: Optical spectroscopy has a bright future in differentiating the benign and malignant lesions of the breast. Furthermore, it can detect cancer at an early stage.