Figure 7.

Statistical analysis of spectral parameters

Statistical analysis of spectral parameters calculated in the extratumoral stroma (ExtraT), PeriT stroma near to OTSCC at stages I–IV (named respectively PeriT S-I, PeriT S-II, PeriT S-III, and PeriT S-IV), and intratumoral stroma at stage IV (IntraT). Box-and-whisker diagrams of: (A) COLL/PRT (representative of the relative amount of collagen respect to total proteins); (B) PRO/PRT (representative of the relative amount of proline respect to total proteins); (C) TRIPLE HELIX (representative of the total amount of the triple helix structures in collagen); (D) ALPHA HELIX (representative of the total amount of α-helix structures in collagen); (E) RANDOM (representative of random structures), and (F) p values. Upper and lower ends of boxes represent 75^th and 25^th percentiles. Max and min values are reported. The median value is shown with a solid line. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Number of sections investigated: 70, two for each biopsy sample.