Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 28, 2022; 28(12): 1284-1287
Published online Mar 28, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i12.1284
Near-infrared fluorescence imaging guided surgery in colorectal surgery
Sung Uk Bae
Sung Uk Bae, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Dongsan Medical Center, Keimyung University, Daegu 700-712, South Korea
Author contributions: Bae SU conceived the manuscript, wrote the draft of the manuscript, reviewed and accepted the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no competing interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sung Uk Bae, PhD, Professor, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Dongsan Medical Center, Keimyung University, 194 Dongsan-Dong, Jung-Gu, Daegu 700-712, South Korea. sabiston0000@hanmail.net
Received: March 28, 2022
Peer-review started: September 2, 2021
First decision: September 29, 2021
Revised: March 28, 2022
Accepted: February 23, 2022
Article in press: February 23, 2022
Published online: March 28, 2022
Processing time: 203 Days and 20.9 Hours
Abstract

Near infrared fluorescence using indocyanine green is beneficial for visual assessment of blood vessels, blood flow, and tissue perfusion, sentinel lymph node biopsy, lymph node road mapping, identification of the vascular system round the major vessels, and the detection of ureters in order to reduce the risk of iatrogenic ureteral lesions in colorectal surgery.

Keywords: Fluorescence; Enhanced reality; Anastomotic leak; Lymph node; Anastomosis

Core Tip: Near infrared fluorescence technique using indocyanine green can be used in estimation of intestinal vascularization to detect areas of poor perfusion for preventing anastomotic leakage, the visualization of sentinel lymphatic drainage and peritoneal metastases, and the detection of ureters in order to reduce the risk of iatrogenic ureteral lesions in colorectal surgery. Additionally, this technique can be used in identifying suspected lymph nodes and preventing their incomplete dissection during lateral pelvic lymph node dissection and D3 Lymphadenectomy for rectal cancer and right-sided colon cancer, respectively, and in identification of the vascular system round the major vessels.