Feasibility investigation of near-infrared fluorescence imaging with intravenous indocyanine green method in uniport video-assisted thoracoscopic anatomical segmentectomy for identifying the intersegmental boundary line.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the perioperative outcomes of patients who underwent uniport video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) segmentectomy for identifying the intersegmental boundary line (IBL) by the near-infrared fluorescence imaging with the intravenous indocyanine green (ICG) method or the modified inflation-deflation (MID) method and assess the feasibility and effectiveness of the ICG fluorescence (ICGF)-based method. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed the perioperative data in total 198 consecutive patients who underwent uniport VATS segmentectomy between February 2018 and August 2020. With the guidance of a preoperative imaging interpretation and analysis system (IQQA-3D), the targeted segment structures could be precisely identified and dissected, and then the IBL was confirmed by the ICGF-based method or the MID method. The clinical effectiveness and postoperative complications of the two methods were evaluated. RESULTS An IBL was visible in 98% of patients in the ICGF-based group, even with low doses of ICG. The ICGF-based group was significantly associated with a shorter IBL clear presentation time (23.6 ± 4.4 vs. 23.6 ± 4.4 s) (p < 0.01) and operative time (89.3 ± 31.6 vs. 112.9 ± 33.3 min) (p < 0.01) compared to the MID group. The incidence of postoperative prolonged air leaks was higher in the MID group than in the ICGF-based group (8/100, 8% vs. 26/98, 26.5%, p = 0.025). There were no significant differences in bleeding volume, chest tube duration, postoperative hospital stays, surgical margin width, and other postoperative complications. CONCLUSION The ICGF-based method could highly accurately identify the IBL and make anatomical segmentectomy easier and faster, and therefore has the potential to be a feasible and effective technique to facilitate the quality of uniport VATS segmentectomy.