Near-infrared Intraoperative Imaging of Thoracic Sympathetic Nerves: From Preclinical Study to Clinical Trial

The sympathetic nervous system controls and regulates the activities of the heart and other organs. Sympathetic nervous system dysfunction leads to disease. Therefore, intraoperative real-time imaging of thoracic sympathetic nerves (ITSN) would be of great clinical significance for diagnosis and therapy. The aim of this experimental study was to evaluate the feasibility and validity of intraoperative ITSN using indocyanine green (ICG).