ABSTRACT
Optical spectroscopic techniques have shown promising results in the detection of diseases on cellular scale. ™ey do not require tissue removal, can be performed in vivo, rapidly interrogate large tissue surfaces, and permit the diagnosis to be made in real time. While ¦uorescence and Raman spectroscopy are ežective in revealing the molecular properties of tissue, the technique called light scattering spectroscopy (LSS) is capable of characterizing the structural properties of tissue on a cellular and subcellular scale. LSS connects the spectroscopic properties of light elastically scattered by small particles to their size, refractive index, and shape. Light scattering in biological tissues originates from tissue inhomogeneities such as cellular organelles, extracellular matrix, and blood vessels. ™is o²en translates into unique angular, polarization, and spectroscopic features of scattered light emerging from tissue, and therefore information about the tissues macroscopic and microscopic structure can be obtained from the characteristics of the scattered light.
