Prediction of prognosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma using infrared microspectroscopy

Background: Estimation of prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is inaccurate prior to surgery, only being effected following subsequent pathological analysis of the primary tumour and excised lymph nodes. Consequently, a proportion of patients are overtreated, with an increase in morbidity, or undertreated, with inadequate margins and risk of recurrence. We hypothesise that it is possible to accurately characterise clinical outcomes from infrared spectra arising from diagnostic biopsies. In this first step, we correlate survival with IR spectra derived from the primary tumour.

Methods: Infrared spectra were collected from tumour tissue from 29 patients with OSCC and subject to classification modelling.

Results: The model had a median AUROC of 0.89 with regard to prognosis, a median specificity of 0.83, and a hazard ratio of 6.29 in univariate Cox proportional hazard modelling.

Conclusion: The data suggest that FTIR spectra may be a useful early biomarker of prognosis in OSCC.