Whole organ cross-section chemical imaging using label-free mega-mosaic FTIR microscopyElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c3an01674a

FTIR chemical imaging has been demonstrated as a promising technique to construct automated systems to complement histopathological evaluation of biomedical tissue samples. The rapid chemical imaging of large areas of tissue has previously been a limiting factor in this application. Consequently, smaller areas of tissue have previously had to be sampled, possibly introducing sampling bias and potentially missing diagnostically important areas. In this report a high spatial resolution chemical image of a whole prostate cross section is shown comprising 66 million pixels. Each pixel represents an area 5.5 × 5.5 μm 2 of tissue and contains a full infrared spectrum providing a chemical fingerprint. The data acquisition time was 14 hours, thus showing that a clinical time frame of hours rather than days has been achieved. Whole organ chemical imaging has been demonstrated using FTIR focal plane array technology. These imaging systems hold the potential to form automated cancer detection systems to complement current histopathology laboratories.