Development of high-throughput ATR-FTIR technology for rapid triage of brain cancer.

Non-specific symptoms, as well as the lack of a cost-effective test to triage patients in primary care, has resulted in increased time-to-diagnosis and a poor prognosis for brain cancer patients. A rapid, cost-effective, triage test could significantly improve this patient pathway. A blood test using attenuated total reflection (ATR)-Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for the detection of brain cancer, alongside machine learning technology, is advancing towards clinical translation.

Is Infrared Spectroscopy Ready for the Clinic?

Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) represents an attractive molecular diagnostic modality for translation to the clinic, where comprehensive chemical profiling of biological samples may revolutionize a myriad of pathways in clinical settings. Principally, FT-IR provides a rapid, cost-effective platform to obtain a molecular fingerprint of clinical samples based on vibrational transitions of chemical bonds upon interaction with infrared light. To date, considerable research activities have demonstrated competitive to superior performance of FT-IR strategies in comparison to conventional techniques, with particular promise for earlier, accessible disease diagnostics, thereby improving patient outcomes.