%0 Journal Article %T Background Estimation of Biomedical Raman Spectra Using a Geometric Approach %A Nikolaos Kourkoumelis %A Alexandros Polymeros %A Margaret Tzaphlidou %J Spectroscopy: An International Journal %D 2012 %I Hindawi Publishing Corporation %R 10.1155/2012/530791 %X Raman spectroscopy grows into an essential tool for biomedical applications. Nevertheless, the weak Raman signal associated mainly with biological samples is often obscured by a broad background signal due to the intrinsic fluorescence of the organic molecules present, making further analysis unfeasible. A computational geometry method based on the definition of convex hull is described to estimate the background from Raman spectra of samples with biological interest. The method is semiautomated requiring sample-dependent user intervention. It does not depend, however, on curve fitting, requires no information about background distribution or source, and keeps the original spectral data intact. %U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/spectroscopy/2012/530791/