Method of chemical imaging to determine tissue margins during surgery

1. A method for chemical imaging to determine tissue margins during surgery comprising:

irradiating, with a substantially monochromatic light, a region containing a biological tissue;

obtaining a Raman spectroscopic image from the irradiated region for at least one Raman spectroscopic value characteristic of either a neoplastic portion or a non-neoplastic portion in the region containing the biological tissue, wherein said Raman spectroscopic image comprises spectral information recorded at each pixel in the image;

differentiating a boundary between the neoplastic portion and the non-neoplastic portion in the region containing the biological tissue, wherein said differentiating comprises analyzing said spectral information recorded at each pixel of said Raman spectroscopic image using a method selected from the group consisting of: principal component analysis (PCA), Cosine Correlation Analysis (CCA), Euclidian Distance Analysis (EDA), multivariate curve resolution (MCR), Band T. Entropy Method (BTEM), Mahalanobis Distance (MD), Adaptive Subspace Detector (ASD), and combinations thereof;

displaying a location of said boundary in said Raman spectroscopic image based on the results of the differentiating and

selecting the neoplastic portion for physical manipulation, wherein said selecting is based on the displayed boundary location between the neoplastic portion and the non-neoplastic portion.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said differentiating includes correlating the Raman spectral image with a visible image of the region.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said at least one Raman spectroscopic value includes a Raman shift for one of the following:

the neoplastic portion; and

the non-neoplastic portion.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said biological tissue comprises neurological tissue.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising physically manipulating

the neoplastic portion.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein physically manipulating the neoplastic portion comprises excising the neoplastic portion from the region containing said biological tissue.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the steps of differentiating, selecting, and excising the selected neoplastic portion are performed iteratively.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the steps of differentiating, selecting and excising the selected neoplastic portion are performed iteratively and in vivo on the region of biological tissue of the patient.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising rinsing the region containing biological tissue between the steps of selecting and excising.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of rinsing the region containing biological tissue between the steps of selecting and excising is performed in vivo on the region of biological tissue of the patient.

11. The method of claim 5 , wherein the step of physically manipulating of the neoplastic portion is performed in vivo on the region of biological tissue of a patient.

12. The method of claim 5 , wherein physically manipulating the neoplastic portion comprises one of the following:

applying radioactive material to the neoplastic portion;

applying a cryogenic agent to the neoplastic portion;

applying heat to the neoplastic portion;

applying electrical current to the neoplastic portion;

applying a chemotherapy drug to the neoplastic potion;

applying a gene therapy treatment to the neoplastic portion; and

irradiating the neoplastic portion with radiation having a wavelength corresponding to a photoactivatable cytotoxic agent.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of physically manipulating the neoplastic portion is performed in vivo on a region of tissue on the patient.

14. The method of claim 5 , wherein the step of physically manipulating the neoplastic portion takes place in one of the following: a neurological operating room; a neurological procedure room; a radiology suite; and a medical practitioner's office.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

selecting the non-neoplastic portion for physical manipulation; and

physically manipulating the non-neoplastic portion.

16. A method for chemical imaging to determine tissue margins during surgery comprising:

irradiating, with a substantially monochromatic light, a region containing a neurological tissue;

obtaining Raman spectroscopic data from endogenous molecules in the irradiated region, wherein said Raman spectroscopic data comprises spatially resolved Raman spectroscopic data;

differentiating a boundary between the neoplastic portion and the non-neoplastic portion in the region containing the neurological tissue wherein said differentiating comprises

analyzing said spatially resolved Raman spectroscopic data in at least one direction for at least one Raman spectroscopic value characteristic of either endogenous molecules of the neoplastic portion or endogenous molecules of the non-neoplastic portions,

wherein said analyzing comprises using a method selected from the group consisting of: principal component analysis (PCA), Cosine Correlation Analysis (CCA), Euclidian Distance Analysis (EDA), multivariate curve resolution (MCR), Band T. Entropy Method (BTEM), Mahalanobis Distance (MD), Adaptive Subspace Detector (ASD), and combinations thereof; and

selecting the neoplastic portion for physical manipulation based on the differentiation of the boundary between the neoplastic portion and the non-neoplastic portion.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein said differentiating includes correlating the Raman spectral data with a visible image of the region.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising physically manipulating

the neoplastic portion.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the step of physically manipulating the neoplastic portion is performed in vivo on the region of neurological tissue of a patient.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising the steps of:

selecting the non-neoplastic portion for physical manipulation; and

physically manipulating the non-neoplastic portion.

21. A system comprising:

a substantially monochromatic light source irradiating, a region containing a biological tissue;

a Raman spectrometer for obtaining Raman spectroscopic image data from the irradiated region for at least one Raman spectroscopic value characteristic of either a neoplastic portion or a non-neoplastic portion in the region containing the biological tissue, wherein said Raman spectroscopic image comprises spectral information recorded at each pixel in the image;

means for differentiating a boundary between the neoplastic portion and the non-neoplastic portion in the region containing the biological tissue by analyzing said spectral information recorded at each pixel of said the Raman spectroscopic image using a method selected from the group consisting of: principle component analysis (PCA), Cosine Correlation Analysis (CCA), Euclidian Distance Analysis (EDA), multivariate curve resolution (MCR), Band T. Entropy Method (BTEM), Mahalanobis Distance (MD), Adaptive Subspace Detector (ASD), and combinations thereof;

means for displaying a location of said boundary in said Raman spectroscopic image; and

means for allowing selection of the neoplastic portion for physical manipulation based on the differentiation and the display of the boundary between the neoplastic portion and the non-neoplastic portion.

22. The system of claim 21 further comprising:

means for physically manipulating

the neoplastic portion.

23. The system of claim 21 further comprising:

means for physically manipulating the neoplastic portion.