The Feasibility and Safety of Preoperative Fluorescence Marking with Indocyanine Green (ICG) in Laparoscopic Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer

Background Securing the surgical margin is the most essential and important task in curative surgery. However, it is difficult to accurately identify the tumor location during laparoscopic surgery for gastric cancer, and existing methods, such as preoperative endoscopic marking with tattooing and clipping, have multiple disadvantages. Aims We investigated the feasibility and safety of indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence marking for determining the tumor location during laparoscopic gastrectomy. Methods We retrospectively analyzed preoperative and perioperative data from consecutive patients with gastric cancer undergoing planned laparoscopic distal gastrectomy. Data was maintained in a prospectively compiled surgical database, and patients were categorized into ICG ( n = 84) or non-ICG ( n = 174) groups based on whether they underwent preoperative endoscopic mucosal ICG injection. One-to-one propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to compare outcomes between the two groups. Results We included 84 patient pairs after PSM, and there were no significant differences in preoperative patient characteristics. The ICG group had shorter procedure time ( p