Optical reflectance spectroscopy to differentiate benign from malignant renal tumors at surgery.

Objectives: Optical reflectance spectrophotometry (ORS) is part of a group of novel techniques that have demonstrated promise for the assessment and differentiation of various solid tumors. In this study, we evaluated the ability of ORS to differentiate malignant from benign kidney tumors at surgery.

Methods: From January to April 2007, we completed optical spectroscopy measurements (OSM) at several standardized tumoral and normal parenchymal locations immediately after specimen removal during radical or partial nephrectomy.

Near infrared and visible spectroscopic measurements to detect changes in light scattering and hemoglobin oxygen saturation from rat spinal cord during peripheral stimulation.

In this study, we investigated dynamic changes in light scattering and hemoglobin oxygen saturation (S(sc)O(2)) on the rat spinal cord due to peripheral electrical stimulation by measuring near infrared (NIR) and visible spectroscopy, respectively. The spectral slope in the wavelength region between 700 and 900 nm is used as an index (S(NIR)) to quantify light scattering. With a 100-mum (source-detector separation) fiber-optic needle probe, optical reflectance was measured from the left lumbar region, specifically LL5, of the spinal cord surface at a height of 575 mum from the spinal cord surface.