Sandeep Singh
Gajra Raja Medical College, India
Title: Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in cervical cancer screening: A proposed tool
Biography
Biography: Sandeep Singh
Abstract
Objective: Cervical cancer, one of the few highly preventable cancers through successful screening, is the most common cause of death from cancer in women in the developing world. This brief hypothesis postulates a screening tool aimed to have a real time screening of cervical cancer using LIBS modality. Methods: Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is a spectrochemical method for determining the elemental composition of various samples present in any phase, by simultaneously vaporizing and exciting the sample and thus it improves the spectrochemical techniques by eliminating the requirement of sample pre-treatment. LIBS system focuses a high peak power laser pulse onto a targeted material to produce a laser spark or microplasma. Elemental line spectra is created, collected and analyzed by a fiber spectrophotometer since nano- to micro-grams of material are ablated in femto- to nano-seconds (depending on the laser pulse duration), the whole process can be considered as minimally destructive and real time. Results: The postulated hypothesis is aimed to use laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in the screening of cervical cancer as trace mineral elements act as biological signature in tissues like bones, teeth, hair, blood, etc., from the living phase and store information regarding habitat, nutrition, and other environmental conditions. Previous researches have shown significant differences in concentrations of trace elements between normal and cancerous tissue cells. Conclusion: The technique is exemplified by suggested use of LIBS in studying biological samples such as tissues, gall stones, biological aerosols and in vivo cancer detection.