Diagnosis by Raman Spectroscopy of Pre-Malignant and Malignant Oral Lesions: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Raman spectroscopy is a technique that uses a monochromatic source of light-generating light of the same and different incident energy, thus allowing to obtain the frequency of atoms and molecules vibration to detect chemical connection or geometry, which allows discovering the chemical composition. This technique has great relevance for the early diagnosis of premalignant and malignant lesions due to its practicality and lack of invasiveness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the success of Raman spectroscopy on early diagnosis of oral lesions with a predisposition to malignancy and malignant lesions. A literature review was carried out in PubMed, SciELO, Google Scholar and Lilacs databases, using keywords "precancerous lesions", "Raman Spectral Analysis" and "oral neoplasia". Thirty-two articles were found and 12 were selected, based on the exclusion criteria (review articles and articles that were not studying oral lesions). The high success rates of Raman spectroscopic technique was observed in the rapid identification of malignant or premalignant cells other forms of oral dysplasias in oral lesions due to the practicality of the laser apparatus and lack of invasiveness. It is concluded that the diagnosis by Raman spectroscopy is effective due to its ease-of-use and a great possibility to provide early diagnosis affording successful treatment of oral precancer and cancer.