Raman Fingerprints in Detection of Breast Cancer

Diagnosing cancer with high specificity, sensitivity and traumafree procedure is a major challenge. Development of spectroscopic methods for the detection of cancer has met this challenge with reasonably remarkable success. Raman spectroscopy stands out in comparison to other spectroscopic methods due to its flexibility in collection volumes, non-destructiveness and its ability to differentiate between chemical structures, even with extremely small changes in the atomic arrangements. Raman spectroscopy produces a unique fingerprint of a particular biomolecule. This property helps in qualitative and quantitative analysis of the molecules in a cancer tissue, thereby distinguishing a normal cell from that of the one that is cancerous. Different types of Raman spectroscopic techniques such as SERS (Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy), CARS (Coherent Anti-stokes Raman Spectroscopy), FTRS (Fourier Transform Raman Spectroscopy) and RRS (Resonance Raman Spectroscopy) have been used to intensify Raman signal, and have shown promising results in cancer diagnosis. The availability of a variety of spectroscopes has also broadened the scope for Raman imaging and in-vivo diagnosis of cancer lesions. This research paper reviews a number of Raman spectroscopic methods for the detection of breast cancer. Keywords: Breast cancer; Raman spectroscopy; Raman fingerprints; Diagnosis; Biomarke