In vivo terahertz spectroscopy of pigmentary skin nevi: Pilot study of non-invasive early diagnosis of dysplasia

In vivo terahertz (THz) spectroscopy of pigmentary skin nevi is performed. The in vivo THz dielectric characteristics of healthy skin and dysplastic and non-dysplastic skin nevi are reconstructed and analyzed. The dielectric permittivity curves of these samples in the THz range exhibit significant differences that could allow non-invasive early diagnosis of dysplastic nevi, which are melanoma precursors. An approach for differentiating dysplastic and non-dysplastic skin nevi using the THz dielectric permittivity is proposed. The results demonstrate that THz pulsed spectroscopy is potentially an effective tool for non-invasive early diagnosis of dysplastic nevi and melanomas of the skin. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.