Portable System for In-Clinic Differentiation of Skin Cancers from Benign Skin Lesions and Inflammatory Dermatoses.

The exquisite sensitivity of Raman spectroscopy for detecting biomolecular changes in skin cancer has previously been explored; however, this mostly required analysis of excised tissue samples using bulky, immobile laboratory instrumentation. In this study, the technique was translated for clinical use with a portable Raman system and customized fiber optic probe and applied to differentiation of skin cancers from benign lesions and inflammatory dermatoses. The aim was to provide an easy-to-use, easy-to-manage assessment tool for clinicians to use in their daily patient examination routine to perform rapid Raman measurements of skin lesions in vivo.