Patent ID: 8208142

Claim:
A method for detecting lung cancer, comprising the steps of: irradiating a sample of a body fluid from a patient with light from an optical source at a wavelength of about 400 nm; detecting fluorescence from the sample over an emission band extending from about 425 nm to 700 nm; identifying and measuring fluorescence intensity maxima in the emission band corresponding to species of porphyrin, flavins, bile components, and background sample media; comparing relative concentrations of the species of porphyrin, flavins, bile components, and background sample media from the fluorescence intensities in order to diagnose cancer condition in the patient from whom the sample is taken; examining the same sample of body fluid to obtain synchronous fluorescence excitation and emission spectra with an offset between about 10 nm and 70 nm when the patient is diagnosed as cancerous according to the relative concentrations of the species of porphyrin, flavins, bile components, and background sample media; and diagnosing the patient as suffering from lung cancer when the synchronous spectra shows an excitation peak between about 325 nm and 330 nm due to the presence of elastin and collagen.