Methods and apparatuses for detecting cancerous tissue

A method of detecting cancerous tissue, comprising:

• illuminating a target area comprising suspected tissue with infrared light;
• receiving reflected light from the target area;
• filtering the reflected light from the target through a plurality of mid-wavelength infrared optical filters with overlapping pass-bands;
• directing the filtered reflected light from each of the plurality of optical infrared filters onto at least one optical sensor;
• providing data generated by the at least one optical sensor and corresponding to the filtered reflected light from each of the plurality of optical infrared filters to a controller;
• calculating, at the controller, a vector corresponding to the target area from the data;
• comparing, at the controller, the vector corresponding to the target area with a plurality of vectors respectively corresponding to different types of cancerous tissue;
• and
• determining, at the controller, based on a result of the comparison whether the target area includes at least one type of cancerous tissue.