Fluorescence-guided surgery: comprehensive review.

BACKGROUND: Despite significant improvements in preoperative workup and surgical planning, surgeons often rely on their eyes and hands during surgery. Although this can be sufficient in some patients, intraoperative guidance is highly desirable. Near-infrared fluorescence has been advocated as a potential technique to guide surgeons during surgery. METHODS: A literature search was conducted to identify relevant articles for fluorescence-guided surgery. The literature search was performed using Medical Subject Headings on PubMed for articles in English until November 2022 and a narrative review undertaken. RESULTS: The use of invisible light, enabling real-time imaging, superior penetration depth, and the possibility to use targeted imaging agents, makes this optical imaging technique increasingly popular. Four main indications are described in this review: tissue perfusion, lymph node assessment, anatomy of vital structures, and tumour tissue imaging. Furthermore, this review provides an overview of future opportunities in the field of fluorescence-guided surgery. CONCLUSION: Fluorescence-guided surgery has proven to be a widely innovative technique applicable in many fields of surgery. The potential indications for its use are diverse and can be combined. The big challenge for the future will be in bringing experimental fluorophores and conjugates through trials and into clinical practice, as well as validation of computer visualization with large data sets. This will require collaborative surgical groups focusing on utility, efficacy, and outcomes for these techniques.

Clinical Relevance of Closed-Incision Negative Pressure Therapy (ciNPT) for SSI-Risk Reduction in Vascular Surgery Through a Groin Incision.

BACKGROUND: Vascular surgery, especially lower limb revascularization surgery, has one of the highest rates of surgical complications, predominantly surgical site infections (SSI). Resulting in a significant burden of additional costs due to longer hospital stays, re-admissions and re-interventions, mainly attributable to deep incisional SSIs. Closed incisional negative pressure therapy (ciNPT) is a relatively new strategy in the postoperative management surgical wounds, aiming to reduce surgical wound complications. When discussing the clinical relevance of ciNPT, it is crucial to take into account the outcome of therapy as well as the additional costs related to ciNPT. Since, the additional costs must be justified by an associated decrease in the morbidity and costs associated with groin wound complications, which are particularly attributable to deep incisional SSIs. The current literature evaluating the beneficial effect of ciNPT in groin incisional vascular surgery, predominantly focusses on the decrease in superficial SSIs. Whereas this study aims to address and discuss the clinical relevance of ciNPT over conventional wound dressings, by separately evaluating and comparing the incidence of superficial and deep SSIs and their related re-admissions and re-interventions. METHODS: In this single center prospective cohort study performed in a non-academic hospital in The Netherlands, 59 consecutive patients (67 incisions) were included between January and October 2019. All underwent elective vascular surgery with groin (access) incisions for either lower limb revascularization surgery or abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery. The study group was treated with six days ciNPT (PREVENA Incision Management System; KCI/3M, San Antonio, TX, USA) and matched for equal comparison to a historical retrospectively analysed cohort of 54 consecutive patients (60 incisions), all of whom have undergone elective vascular surgery for equal indications with groin (access) incisions in our center between January and October 2018. The standard-care group was treated following standard surgical wound care protocol with conventional surgical self-adhesive plaster (10 × 15cm, Mepore, Mölnlycke Health Care AB, Gothenburg, Sweden). RESULTS: Study groups were comparable at baseline, except for Body Mass Index (BMI), which was significantly higher in the ciNPT-group (P =.021). No significant differences for formation of seroma, hematoma, as well as wound dehiscence and SSIs were found between both groups. Groin SSIs were seen in 12.1% of the patients in the ciNPT-group and in 13.0% in the Standard-care group (OR 0.80, CI ((0.26, 2.48)), deep SSI contributed for 4 out of 7 patients of total SSIs in the ciNPT-group and for 2 out of 7 patients in the standard of care group (P-value >0.05). Analysis for incidence of hospital re-admission and re-intervention in both study groups showed no significant difference. Subset analysis in both study groups for SSIs differentiated in superficial and deep SSIs showed that only deep SSIs resulted in re-interventions. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the findings in the population of our single center study, we conclude that routine use of ciNPT was not effective in reducing groin wound complications, and therefore could not replicate the promising findings from some previous studies. Furthermore, we did not find a reduction in the incidence of deep SSIs, which comprise the highest morbidity and costs. Considering our findings as well as the associated additional expenses related to ciNPT, it might be superfluous at this stage to use ciNPT as the new standard of post-operative groin incision care for all lower limb revascularization and abdominal aortic aneurysm surgeries. In our opinion further research is warranted for establishing a risk-factor based model for determination of the indication of ciNPT. To be able to achieve a more substantiated decision for utilizing ciNPT compared to standard surgical wound care in groin incisional vascular surgical interventions.

Overview and Future Perspectives on Tumor-Targeted Positron Emission Tomography and Fluorescence Imaging of Pancreatic Cancer in the Era of Neoadjuvant Therapy.

BACKGROUND: Despite recent advances in the multimodal treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), overall survival remains poor with a 5-year cumulative survival of approximately 10%. Neoadjuvant (chemo- and/or radio-) therapy is increasingly incorporated in treatment strategies for patients with (borderline) resectable and locally advanced disease. Neoadjuvant therapy aims to improve radical resection rates by reducing tumor mass and (partial) encasement of important vascular structures, as well as eradicating occult micrometastases. Results from recent multicenter clinical trials evaluating this approach demonstrate prolonged survival and increased complete surgical resection rates (R0). Currently, tumor response to neoadjuvant therapy is monitored using computed tomography (CT) following the RECIST 1.1 criteria. Accurate assessment of neoadjuvant treatment response and tumor resectability is considered a major challenge, as current conventional imaging modalities provide limited accuracy and specificity for discrimination between necrosis, fibrosis, and remaining vital tumor tissue. As a consequence, resections with tumor-positive margins and subsequent early locoregional tumor recurrences are observed in a substantial number of patients following surgical resection with curative intent. Of these patients, up to 80% are diagnosed with recurrent disease after a median disease-free interval of merely 8 months. These numbers underline the urgent need to improve imaging modalities for more accurate assessment of therapy response and subsequent re-staging of disease, thereby aiming to optimize individual patient's treatment strategy. In cases of curative intent resection, additional intra-operative real-time guidance could aid surgeons during complex procedures and potentially reduce the rate of incomplete resections and early (locoregional) tumor recurrences. In recent years intraoperative imaging in cancer has made a shift towards tumor-specific molecular targeting. Several important molecular targets have been identified that show overexpression in PDAC, for example: CA19.9, CEA, EGFR, VEGFR/VEGF-A, uPA/uPAR, and various integrins. Tumor-targeted PET/CT combined with intraoperative fluorescence imaging, could provide valuable information for tumor detection and staging, therapy response evaluation with re-staging of disease and intraoperative guidance during surgical resection of PDAC. METHODS: A literature search in the PubMed database and (inter)national trial registers was conducted, focusing on studies published over the last 15 years. Data and information of eligible articles regarding PET/CT as well as fluorescence imaging in PDAC were reviewed. Areas covered: This review covers the current strategies, obstacles, challenges, and developments in targeted tumor imaging, focusing on the feasibility and value of PET/CT and fluorescence imaging for integration in the work-up and treatment of PDAC. An overview is given of identified targets and their characteristics, as well as the available literature of conducted and ongoing clinical and preclinical trials evaluating PDAC-targeted nuclear and fluorescent tracers.