The Use of IndoCyanine Green Fluorescence in the Assessment of Bowel Perfusion in Emergency and Elective Colorectal Surgery

Background The use of Indocyanine Green (ICG) fluorescence is a well-established technique in colorectal surgery for the evaluation of bowel stump perfusion. However there is still no definitive acceptance, except intraoperative macroscopic evidence, with reference to the incidence of anastomotic leakage (AL). The objective of this study is to confirm the same efficacy and reliability of ICG in elective colorectal surgery, and emergency cases, which would be more exposed to complications related to inadequate vascularization.Methods From January 2019 to June 2020, we used ICG to evaluate the perfusion of colonicstumps before and after packaging the anastomosis in right and left hemicolectomy, rectal resection and Hartmann’s reversals.Results A total of 40 patients underwent surgery, 21 (52.50%) had benign pathology and 19 (47.50%) exhibited malignant neoplasia. 13 (32.50%) were emergency surgeries and 27 (67.50%) were planned elective surgeries. In almost all cases, the postoperative course was regular, in only 1 (2.5%) case of TaTME there was an AL. Other complications were not related to the anastomosis, but some validated the excellent perfusion despite episodes of prolonged acute ischemia due to postoperative hemorrhage. Data were finally compared to a control group of 39 patients where the ICG fluorescence was not used.Conclusions The study confirms the validity of the use of ICG fluorescence as a method for intraoperative assessment of bowel perfusion even in emergency conditions and in acute postoperative hemorrhage, detecting an incidence of 2.5% (1 case out of 40) of AL. It’s evident that to validate our results, further randomized studies on a larger data set are required. It would also be beneficial to evaluate quantitatively the fluorescence between the mucous and serous layer, to confirm the reduction of AL rate, the better evaluation of bowel perfusion and, especially in emergency surgeries, the potential reduction of further operations.