Raman spectroscopy has shown great potential for clinical in vivo diagnostics by providing the molecular fingerprint of a sample without contact or destruction. However, current fiber optic probe-based Raman systems remain technologically limited. In a recent study published in Light Science & Application, a team of scientists led by Professor Dr. Iwan Schie in collaboration with Professor Dr. Gunther Hofmann from the Jena University hospital, Germany, developed a real-time molecular imaging system using Raman spectroscopy.

Their proposed system provides molecular-sensitive information to detect distinguish cancer from healthy tissues. The imaging platform combines molecular measurements, positional tracking, real-time data processing, and molecular virtual reality (MVR) images with a spatial resolution of 0.5 mm in the transverse plane and a topology resolution of 0.6 mm. The MVR images can be perceived as augmented chemical reality (AR) on the computer screen or directly mapped on the tissue, creating mixed reality (MR) information that can be seen in real-time.

The researchers also implemented a photometric stereo measuring system to map the molecular information on a 3D sample surface. This system allows for easy access to patients and provides biochemical distributions from the region of interest for disease tissue differentiation during surgical resection. Additionally, the proposed approach is universal and can be applied to non-medical applications such as manufacturing, quality control, or in conjunction with other optical and non-optical modalities.

The approach enables handheld imaging acquisition, real-time processing, and reconstruction of molecular information, and allows for a smart and intuitive visualization of the data using AR and MR. The solution offers new opportunities and can be a potential tool for real-time molecularly specific clinical diagnostics and molecular boundary demarcation.

This work outlines a new future direction for Raman-based applications and puts Leibniz IPHT at the frontier of technical developments in vibrational spectroscopy and clinical translation.