Raman spectroscopy has shown very promising results in medical diagnostics by providing label-free and highly specific molecular information of pathological tissue ex vivo and in vivo. Nevertheless, the high specificity of Raman spectroscopy comes at a price, i.e., low acquisition rate, no direct access to depth information, and limited sampling areas. However, a similar case regarding advantages and disadvantages can also be made for other highly regarded optical modalities, such as optical coherence tomography, autofluorescence imaging and fluorescence spectroscopy, fluorescence lifetime microscopy, second-harmonic generation, and others. While in these modalities the acquisition speed is significantly higher, they have no or only limited molecular specificity and are only sensitive to a small group of molecules. It can be safely stated that a single modality provides only a limited view on a specific aspect of a biological specimen and cannot assess the entire complexity of a sample. To solve this issue, multimodal optical systems, which combine different optical modalities tailored to a particular need, become more and more common in translational research and will be indispensable diagnostic tools in clinical pathology in the near future. These systems can assess different and partially complementary aspects of a sample and provide a distinct set of independent biomarkers. Here, we want to give an overview on the development of multimodal systems that use RS in combination with other optical modalities to improve the diagnostic performance.

中文翻译：

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寻找完美匹配：用于生物医学应用的拉曼光谱的多模式组合

拉曼光谱通过提供离体和体内病理组织的无标记和高度特异性的分子信息，在医学诊断中显示出非常有希望的结果。然而，拉曼光谱的高特异性是有代价的，即低采集率、无法直接获取深度信息以及采样区域有限。然而，对于其他备受推崇的光学模式，如光学相干断层扫描、自体荧光成像和荧光光谱、荧光寿命显微镜、二次谐波产生等，也可以对优缺点进行类似的分析。虽然在这些模式中采集速度明显更高，但它们没有或只有有限的分子特异性，并且只对一小部分分子敏感。可以有把握地说，单一模式只能提供对生物样本特定方面的有限看法，不能评估样本的整体复杂性。为了解决这个问题，结合了针对特定需求定制的不同光学模态的多模态光学系统在转化研究中变得越来越普遍，并将在不久的将来成为临床病理学中不可或缺的诊断工具。这些系统可以评估样品的不同和部分互补的方面，并提供一组独特的独立生物标志物。在这里，我们想概述使用 RS 与其他光学方式结合以提高诊断性能的多模式系统的发展。