Intraoperative fluorescence angiography and cholangiography with indocyanine green (ICG) are increasingly used in routine hepatobiliary surgery. Its usage is manifold. It improves and facilitates navigation especially in minimal invasive and robotic surgery and therefore increases the safety of the surgical intervention. In laparoscopic cholecystectomy for example, the bileduct anatomy can be easily visualized, even in complicated cholecystitis or anatomical variants without being too time consuming. ICG fluorescence also enables the visualization of vascular structures and perfusion. Anatomical liver resections, for example in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), can be performed easily as liver segments and territories can be identified. Anatomical resection is becoming more important, e.g. in the treatment of HCC. Another useful application is the intraoperative detection of bile leakages after liver resection. In particular, the intraoperative control of a biliodigestive anastomosis is possible with ICG fluorescence cholangiography and therefore reduces morbidity. Even primary and secondary liver tumors can be detected with ICG fluorescence. Whereas well-differentiated HCCs homogeneously take up ICG, poorly differentiated HCCs and metastases do not: however, in these cases the adjacent liver parenchyma stores ICG more intensively than healthy liver tissue, which creates a ring-like fluorescence pattern. To conclude, the use of ICG fluorescence in hepatobiliary surgery is diverse but in Germany it is still at the beginning compared to other countries.
Keywords: Bile duct surgery; Liver segment resection; Liver surgery; Minimally invasive surgery; Robot-assisted surgery.