This paper presents a retrospective study from 2004 to 2014 of FTIR prostate cancer spectroscopy related to tissues and cell biology. Since vibrational spectroscopy is delicately sensitive to the biochemical composition of the sample and variations therein, it is possible to monitor metabolic processes in tissue and cells, and to construct spectral maps based on thousands of collected IR spectra. These reveal information on tissue structure, distribution of cellular components, metabolic activity and the health condition of cells and tissues. In addition, rapid collection, reliable data, a powerful ability to structure elucidation about IR spectroscopy, and the need for a rapid diagnosis of traditional biopsy (subject to sampling and inter-observer) have potentiated infrared as a way for a new type of analysis based on optical examination and being more objective than conventional colour methods. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.