The Clinical Application of Raman Spectroscopy for Breast Cancer Detection

Figure 3

Typical Raman spectra and histopathology of breast lesions (fibrocystic change) with type I and II microcalcifications. The Raman spectrum of the breast lesion with type I microcalcifications in (a) shows prominent bands at 912 cm⁻¹ and 1477 cm⁻¹ (arrows) characteristic of calcium oxalate; the calcium oxalate crystals comprising the type I microcalcifications (b) do not bind H&E (left panel) and appear as colorless crystals (arrows) that are birefringent when viewed under polarized light (right panel). In contrast, the Raman spectrum of the breast lesion with type II microcalcifications in (c) shows a prominent band at 960 cm⁻¹ (arrow) characteristic of calcium hydroxyapatite; the calcium hydroxyapatite rich type II microcalcifications appear as basophilic concretions on the H&E stain (d) and are nonbirefringent [59, 60].

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)