Quantitative Fluorescence Angiography With ICG for Perfusion Assessment During Surgery

Plain-language summary

The accurate assessment of intraoperative tissue perfusion is essential in any branch of surgery. Anastomotic leakage (AL) is one of the most feared complications following gastrointestinal surgery, with potentially threatening consequences resulting in worsened short- and long-term outcomes. Consistently, a recent meta-analysis showed a correlation between AL and shorter disease-free survival in colorectal surgery. Despite its multifactorial origin, AL is highly related to inadequate visceral perfusion. Traditionally, perfusion assessment and subsequent anastomotic viability have been evaluated by surgeons using intraoperative indicators, such as color, pulsation of vessels, presence of peristalsis and bleeding from the resection lines. However, these clinical parameters are not able to reliably assess the real visceral perfusion and their evaluation is limited in minimally invasive surgery. Hence, the growing interest for innovative techniques able to properly assess tissue perfusion. Among these, the fluorescence angiography (FA) with indocyanine green (ICG) has become increasingly popular during the last decade, although its approval for biomedical purposes by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dates back to 1956. ICG is an amphiphilic, non-toxic, tricarbocyanine iodide dye that can be safely injected intravenously and is exclusively eliminated by the liver, without any absorption. Thanks to its fluorescent properties, it allows the real-time visualization of tissue vascularization. FA with ICG has shown promising results for the evaluation of perfusion in numerous surgical procedures, thus leading to modifications of the surgical strategy and consequently to a decrease in the rates of AL. On the other hand, ICG interpretation is subjective, based on the evaluation of fluorescence performed by the operating surgeon. These results lack into a high inter-observer variability and affect the possibility to obtain objective, reproducible and reliable tissue perfusion assessments. Quantitative fluorescence angiography with ICG (Q-ICG) could overcome these limitations. In Q-ICG the fluorescence signal is elaborated by a new computer quantification algorithm and translated into a fluorescence-time curve (FTC), from which several Q-ICG parameters and values can be extracted. Given the power of ICG in reflecting the perfusion of examined tissues, a new quantification algorithm has the potential to turn the subjective parameters derived from surgeon's perspective into objective numeric values. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate which Q-ICG values provided by a new quantification algorithm correspond to subjective perfusion parameters usually evaluated by the surgeon in patients undergoing left colon, rectal or esophagogastric resections. The secondary aim is to evaluate possible correlations between Q-ICG values provided by the quantification algorithm and perioperative outcomes.

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