Optical diagnosis of oral cavity lesions by label-free Raman spectroscopy

Levi Matthies; Medhanie T Gebrekidan; Jasper F Tegtmeyer; Nicolai Oetter; Maximilian Rohde; Tobias Vollkommer; Ralf Smeets; Waldemar Wilczak; Florian Stelzle; Martin Gosau; Andreas S Braeuer; Christian Knipfer

doi:10.1364/BOE.409456

Optical diagnosis of oral cavity lesions by label-free Raman spectroscopy

Biomed Opt Express. 2021 Jan 13;12(2):836-851. doi: 10.1364/BOE.409456. eCollection 2021 Feb 1.

Authors

Levi Matthies^{1

2}, Medhanie T Gebrekidan^{3

4

2}, Jasper F Tegtmeyer¹, Nicolai Oetter^{3

5}, Maximilian Rohde⁵, Tobias Vollkommer¹, Ralf Smeets¹, Waldemar Wilczak⁶, Florian Stelzle^{3

5}, Martin Gosau¹, Andreas S Braeuer⁴, Christian Knipfer¹

Affiliations

¹ University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Martinistraße 52, D-20246 Hamburg, Germany.
² These authors contributed equally.
³ Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT), Paul-Gordan-Straße 6, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany.
⁴ Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (TUBAF), Institute of Thermal-, Environmental- and Resources' Process Engineering (ITUN), Leipziger Straße 28, D-09599 Freiberg, Germany.
⁵ Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Glückstraße 11, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany.
⁶ University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Institute of Pathology, Martinistraße 52, D-20246 Hamburg, Germany.

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.