Hyperspectral imaging: a non-invasive method of imaging melanoma lesions in a patient with stage IV melanoma, being treated with a RAF inhibitor.

Utilizing a macroscopic Prism and Reflectance Imaging Spectroscopy System (MACRO-PARISS), spectral data are taken from human skin using a fiber optic light probe. The subject was an oncology patient at the University of Pennsylvania, with biopsy proven melanoma, who underwent chemotherapy with a novel small molecule BRAF inhibitor as part of a Phase I clinical trial. The BRAF mutation had been previously identified in this patient. Cutaneous lesions were identified by a clinical oncologist, and lesions were imaged periodically over a 1 month period of time. Spectra are classified using a linearity-independent algorithm over a wavelength range of 450-920 nm. Spectral signatures, or characteristic features, of generated spectra correlate with gross features of lesions that are readily observable. Using PARISS we demonstrated differences between spectral signatures of treated lesions over a treatment course, indicating spectral data correlation with changes in disease. PARISS may be useful to better establish a noninvasive means of following disease progression, and ultimately establish characteristic spectral signatures to define disease presence in the future.