Abstract: The incidence of laryngeal cancer has risen progressively over the last 25 years. Early diagnosis and treatment of premalignant lesions of the larynx is vital to prevent progression to invasive squamous cell carcinoma. In the larynx, it has long been recognized that histological evidence of maturation abnormality is associated with a higher risk of transformation to malignancy. Currently, it is extremely difficult if not impossible for the clinician to ascertain the level of abnormality present without removing a biopsy sample and sending it for histopathological analysis. Inherent risks with this technique include damage to vocal chords and loss of speech quality as well as possible selection of unrepresentative biopsy samples. Raman spectroscopy, incorporated into an endoscopic system, has the potential to provide a real-time, non-invasive diagnostic technique able to detect biochemical changes that accompany abnormal pathology. Likely outcomes would be improved biopsy targeting and patient management by providing immediate result of tissue pathology. This paper demonstrates the capacity of near IR Raman spectroscopy combine with statistical data analysis techniques to discriminate between normal, dysplastic and cancerous laryngeal tissue. !24
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