Optimal Excitation Wavelengths for In Vivo Detection of Oral Neoplasia Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy¶

Abstract
There is no satisfactory mechanism to detect premalignant lesions in the upper aero-digestive tract. Fluorescence spectroscopy has potential to bridge the gap between clinical examination and invasive biopsy; however, optimal excitation wavelengths have not yet been determined. The goals of this study were to determine optimal excitation–emission wavelength combinations to discriminate normal and precancerous/cancerous tissue, and estimate the performance of algorithms based on fluorescence. Fluorescence excitation–emission matrices (EEM) were measured in vivo from 62 sites in nine normal volunteers and 11 patients with a known or suspected premalignant or malignant oral cavity lesion. Using these data as a training set, algorithms were developed based on combinations of emission spectra at various excitation wavelengths to determine which excitation wavelengths contained the most diagnostic information. A second validation set of fluorescence EEM was measured in vivo from 281 sites in 56 normal ...