The work analyses the results of spectroscopy conducted at the Faculty Surgical Clinic of the Moscow Medical Academy in 105 patients with various
pulmonary diseases. Sixty-four patients had
carcinoma of the lung, 9 had benign
tumors, and the rest had inflammatory diseases and
tuberculosis of the lungs. He-Ne
laser (wave length 633 nm) was employed. The radiation was recorded with a multichannel spectrum analyzer with the use of a specially designed
fiber-optical catheter. The system provided for normalization of the spectra according to the intensity of the
laser component scattering. The spectroluminescence characteristics of normal and inflammatory pulmonary tissue and of lung
tumors were studied during bronchoscopy, during and after the operation. Analysis of the results showed the high specificity and sensitivity of the spectra of malignant pulmonary
tumors. Essential differences between the spectral characteristics of normal pulmonary tissue and those of
carcinoma were noted. The dependence of reduced intensity of tissue fluorescence on the distance from the visible
tumor border was studied, maximum fluorescence was encountered not on the surface of the
tumor or inside it, but at a distance of 1-3 cm from the border of the
tumor. Increased tissue fluorescence in suppurative diseases and benign
tumors of the lungs was not recorded.
Laser fluorescence spectroscopy may be recommended in bronchoscopy for widening its diagnostic possibilities and in intraoperative differential diagnosis of lung
carcinoma, benign
tumors,
tuberculomas, and chronic
abscesses during diagnostic
thoracotomy.