Indocyanine green fluorescence imaging: A novel adjunct to gastrointestinal surgery

Indocyanine Green (ICG) has been applied in medicine since the late 50s for cardiac output measurement, to study the anatomy of Retinal vasculature, and liver functional reserve before major hepatectomy in cirrhotic livers. The dye can be injected into the human bloodstream with practically no adverse effects. ICG fluorescence imaging is advantageous in being compatible with the biochemical characteristics of living tissues. ICG has been used in medical science for the last several decades. However, its use in surgery has recently been explored and has found vast applications in the surgical field. In particular, its use in Gastrointestinal (GI) surgery including hepatobiliary surgery has started to define new trends and techniques to guide the modern surgeon in both simple and complex procedures. In this review we thus explore in light of recent literature the potential uses of ICG in GI surgery.