Diagnostics of pigmented skin tumors based on laser-induced autofluorescence and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy

Results of investigation of cutaneous benign and malignant pigmented lesions by laser-induced autofluorescence spectroscopy (LIAFS) and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) are presented. The autofluorescence of human skin was excited by a 337-nm nitrogen laser. A broadband halogen lamp (400 — 900 nm) was used for diffuse reflectance measurements. A microspectrometer detected in vivo the fluorescence and reflectance signals from human skin. The main spectral features of benign (dermal nevi, compound nevi, dysplastic nevi) and malignant (melanoma) lesions are discussed. The combined usage of the fluorescence and reflectance spectral methods to determine the type of the lesion, which increases the total diagnostic accuracy, is compared with the usage of LIAFS or DRS only. We also applied colorimetric transformation of the reflectance spectra detected and received additional evaluation criteria for determination of type of the lesion under study. Spectra from healthy skin areas near the lesion were detected and changes between healthy and lesion skin spectra were revealed. The influence of the main skin pigments on the detected spectra is discussed and evaluation of possibilities for differentiation between malignant and benign lesions is performed based on their spectral properties. This research shows that the non-invasive and high-sensitive in vivo detection by means of appropriate light sources and detectors should be possible, related to the real-time determination of existing pathological conditions.