[Significance of spectral-fluorescence analysis in the diagnosis of surgical lung diseases].

: 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.