Credit: Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Florida Atlantic University
Squamous cell carcinoma showing different areas of ablation treatment (numbered). Treated areas were probed with laser Raman spectroscopy to assess the residual tissue. The ablation laser works in a grid pattern and pictured in the photos are the results of four different ablation treatment levels. The images are four different 5X5mm treatment areas and within each are small dots that point to where the ablation laser strikes the tissue in a short, high energy pulse and then moves across a little (approximately 300 microns) before pulsing again. The researchers programmed it to work around a 5X5mm grid. Area 1 was treated with the highest amount of total energy, then area 3, then 4, and then 2 (in order of highest to lowest treatment levels). The researchers were testing how different treatment levels might affect the Raman analysis, and they found that there was no problem performing Raman spectroscopy within the ablation field even at the highest treatment levels.