ViSE Seminar – Raman Spectroscopy to Evaluate Surgical Margin Status in Soft Tissue Sarcomas, October 18, 2012. SC 5326, 12:15PM. Lunch provided.
Abstract
Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are a heterogeneous group of malignant tumors that arise from mesenchymal tissues including fibrous connective tissue, cartilage, blood vessels, muscles, nerves, or fat. Standard treatment for primary STS involves surgical excision of the tumor with a margin of surrounding tissue. The quality of resection margin status has been regarded as an important risk factor for the local recurrence of STS and is related to the curative success of surgical treatment of STS. Current clinical practice employs frozen section pathology as an intraoperative technique to provide a definitive diagnosis of margin status, which prolongs the surgical procedure and can increase the risk of surgical complication. This study explored the feasibility of Raman spectroscopy in evaluating surgical margin of STS. Mean Raman spectra from tumor and control showed significant difference in multiple Raman bands, especially in the region of carbohydrate, nucleic acid and protein. Multivariate statistical analysis classified spectra into tumor and control groups with 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Ongoing in vivo tests on STS patients in the operating room will evaluate the potential of Raman spectroscopy for in situ intraoperative surgical margin assessment.