Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for detecting cancerous tissue are provided. A target area comprising suspected tissue is illuminated with infrared light. Reflected light from the target area is received and filtered by a plurality of infrared optical filters with overlapping pass-bands. The filtered reflected light from each of the plurality of optical infrared filters is directed onto at least one optical sensor, and 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 is provided to a controller. The controller calculates a vector corresponding to the target area from the data, and compares that vector to a plurality of vectors respectively corresponding to different types of cancerous tissue. The controller determines based on a result of the comparison whether the target area includes at least one type of cancerous tissue.