Fluorescence-guided laparoscopic surgery is based on the use of advanced and novel surgical imaging techniques that allow the surgeon to improve his skills. And therefore offer a proven benefit to patients undergoing gastrointestinal, hepatic and endocrine surgery, by identifying complex anatomical structures and physiological phenomena.
How is fluorescence-guided laparoscopic surgery performed?
The technique is based on the infusion, usually intravenous, of a safe drug with few contraindications called indocyanine green. Using modern surgical imaging devices, the drug is stimulated by infrared light devices that produce excitation or fluorescence of the compound. This excitation emits a signal that is captured and transformed by special laparoscopic equipment that generates a single, sharp image for the surgeon.
Fluorescence-guided imaging has proven to be useful in intraoperative decision making with a single objective, the benefit of the patient.
Benefits of fluorescence-guided laparoscopic surgery
The greatest benefit to date has been demonstrated in the field of coloproctology. Colorectal resection techniques involve the subsequent performance of an anastomosis or junction between two structures to ensure digestive continuity. These junctions, in 5% of cases of colon surgery and up to 15% in the lower rectum, can fail and cause a serious infectious condition leading to the confection, in some patients, of a stoma, generally temporary.
Fluorescence makes it possible to identify with greater certainty one of the crucial factors in this procedure, improving the surgeon’s perception of the success of the anastomosis. This has been demonstrated in recent works with scientific evidence of maximum guarantees type I.
Other uses in this field, although with less evidence, are fluorescence-guided lymphadenectomy in colorectal cancer and fluorescence-supported flap making for the treatment of complex anal fistulas.