Real time noninvasive cancer diagnostics
  Laser illumination of tissue results in a characteristic fluorescence emission spectrum whose features depend on the type of tissue, viz., healthy, adenoma or malignant. Hence measurement of the fluorescence is potentially a rapid and reliable diagnostic method. We have applied the technique to thyroid tissues and found that judicious normalization of the fluorescence spectrum reveals a close correlation between spectral shape and tissue type. Hence the pathological state of the tissue can be unambiguously identified from the laser-induced fluorescence spectrum. The method is rapid and portable and is therefore eminently suitable for use during operations. 
Z. V. Jaliashvili, T.D. Medoidze, Z. G. Melikishvili, K. M.   Mardaleishvili and J. J. Ramsden