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optical spectroscopy

(OP-tih-kul spek-TROS-koh-pee)
In medicine, a technique that uses low power light, fiberoptic instruments, and detectors to examine tissue. It is being studied as a way to identify differences between normal cells and cells that may become cancer, and as a way to identify cancer cells that remain in the edges of tumor tissue removed from a patient.
Search NCI's Dictionary of Cancer Terms