Abstract: A portable apparatus and method for distinguishing between different tissue types, such as normal tissue, necrotic tissue, and tumor tissue are provided, where the apparatus includes a housing and a plurality of Raman spectrometers disposed within the housing, each spectrometer having a different spectral region. A processor is provided in communication with the plurality of spectrometers, the processor analyzing output from the plurality of spectrometers to identify the tissue type of the tissue sample. A method of selecting the spectral regions which provide a desired combined classification accuracy for determining the tissue type is also provided.