Spectroscopic Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Fourier Transform–Infrared Approach Used for the Evaluation of Healing After Surgical Interventions for Patients with Colorectal Cancer: A Pilot Study

<b>Background/Objectives:</b> Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common and deadly types of cancer. Compared with the classical histopathological approach, this study discusses the application of ¹H NMR and FT-IR techniques for the fast evaluation degree of healing of patients with CRC after surgical intervention. <b>Methods:</b> Native and deproteinized blood plasma collected from 10 patients with confirmed CRC and 20 healthy volunteers were analyzed using ¹H NMR <i>T</i>₂ distributions and FT-IR spectra measured for samples collected before and 7 days after surgery. The average FT-IR spectrum from 20 healthy volunteers is also presented. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on the FT-IR spectra. The results were used for further statistical analysis using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and area under the curve (AUC) and to produce a series of prediction maps using a machine learning library. <b>Results:</b> Both experimental methods combined with analysis methods demonstrated that the native blood plasma samples can be better used to predict the CRC patients' evolution 7 days after surgery. Three patients showed a significant evolution by ¹H NMR <i>T</i>₂ distribution, correlated to the observation of FT-IR-PCA analysis. Maps of medical state probability were generated using a trained machine learning-based ANN. <b>Conclusions:</b> The experimental measurements combined with an advanced statistical analysis and machine learning were successfully used and show that the healing process of patients with CRC is not linear, from the preoperative state to the state associated with healthy volunteers, but passes through a distinct healing state.