In vivo optical tissue differentiation by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy

OBJECTIVES: Laser surgery requires feedback to avoid the accidental destruction of critically important tissues. It was the aim of the authors to identify different tissue types in vivo by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy to set the basis for tissue-specific control of laser surgery.

METHODS: Tissue differentiation was performed on in vivo tissue of rats (skin, fat, muscle, and nerve) by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy between 350 and 650 nm. Data analysis was done using principal components analysis, followed by linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The differentiation performance was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.

RESULTS: ROC analysis showed a tissue differentiation of 100%, with a high sensitivity of more than 99%. Only the tissue pair skin/fat showed a reduced differentiation performance and specificity.

CONCLUSION: The results show the general viability of in vivo optical tissue differentiation and create a basis for the further development of a control system for tissue-specific laser surgery.