Patent ID: 7986989

Claim:
A method for detecting changes in composition and/or structure of a tissue sample comprising: (i) exciting at least a portion of the tissue sample with light having a wavelength from about 280 nm to about 300 nm; (ii) measuring a native fluorescence emission signature value of a molecule from at least a portion of the tissue sample; (iii) measuring a native phosphorescence emission signature value of the molecule from the at least a portion of the tissue sample; (iv) determining an intensity ratio value by dividing the native fluorescence emission signature value obtained in step (ii) by the native phosphorescence emission signature value obtained in step (iii); (v) determining a difference between the intensity ratio value obtained in step (iv) and one or more predetermined intensity ratio values relating to at least one of a normal/benign tissue, a pre-cancerous tissue and a cancerous tissue; (vi) identifying the at least a portion of the tissue as the normal/benign tissue, the pre-cancerous tissue or the cancerous tissue in accordance with the difference between the intensity ratio value and the one or more predetermined intensity ratio values; and (vii) generating an intensity ratio map of the tissue sample in accordance with the identification of the at least a portion of the tissue.