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Histopathological characterization of primary cutaneous melanoma using infrared microimaging: a proof‐of‐concept study
Author(s) -
Ly E.,
CardotLeccia N.,
Ortonne J.P.,
Benchetrit M.,
Michiels J.F.,
Manfait M.,
Piot O.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
british journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.304
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1365-2133
pISSN - 0007-0963
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2010.09762.x
Subject(s) - melanoma , pathology , infrared , proof of concept , medicine , dermatology , biomedical engineering , computer science , cancer research , optics , operating system , physics
Summary Background The diagnosis of malignant melanoma is based upon the histological evaluation of the lesion. As such, the morphological interpretation relies on the expertise of a dermatopathologist. Infrared microimaging is emerging as a new powerful tool to investigate tissue biochemistry. Infrared spectra probe the biochemical constitution of the sample and are real tissue‐specific spectroscopic fingerprints. Objectives To assess the potential of infrared microimaging to aid in the analysis of tissue sections from primary cutaneous melanomas. Methods Ten samples of melanoma sections from the main histological subtypes were investigated using infrared microimaging combined with multivariate statistical analyses. Results This methodology yielded highly contrasted colour‐coded images that permitted to highlight tissue architecture without any staining. It was possible to discriminate tumour areas from normal epidermis automatically, and intratumoral heterogeneity as revealed by our approach was correlated with the aggressiveness of the tumour. Conclusions This proof‐of‐concept study shows that infrared microimaging could help in the diagnosis of primary cutaneous melanoma.