Applications of coherent Raman scattering microscopies to clinical and biological studies

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy are two nonlinear imaging modalities that are at the frontier of label-free and chemical specific biological and clinical diagnostics. The applications of coherent Raman microscopies (CRMs) are multifold ranging from studying the basic aspects of cell biology to the label-free detection of pathologies. This review summarizes the recent progress of biological and clinical applications of CRMs between 2008 and 2014, covering applications such as lipid droplet research, single cell analysis, tissue imaging and multiphoton histopathology of atherosclerosis, myelin sheaths, skin, hair, pharmaceutics, and cancer and surgical margin detection. Future clinical applications will include the development of innovative fiber lasers as excitation sources, fiber optic probes for excitation and signal collection, algorithms for objective and automated data processing.