Laser Fluorescence in Cancer Surgical Treatment

The use of fluorescence for real-time evaluation of organ and tissue vascularization and lymph node anatomy is a recent technology with potential for the surgical treatment of cancer. The real-time analysis of tissue vascularization allows immediate identification to the surgeon of areas with greater or lesser blood circulation, favoring surgical decision making and prevention of complications related to tissue ischemia (necrosis, dehiscences and infections). It is a technology with potential application in the areas of Digestive Surgery, Repairing Plastic Surgery in Oncology, Head and Neck Surgery. In addition, fluorescence can be used as a method to identify lymph node structures of interest in the oncological treatment of patients with urologic, gynecological and digestive tumors. Introduced by Pestana et al. In the late 2000s, the perfusion mapping system through intraoperative indocyanine assisted laser angiography (SPY Elite System © LifeCell Corp., Branchburg, N.J.) had its initial application in repairing surgery after breast cancer treatment. The method proved to be useful in the prevention of ischemic and infectious complications in cancer surgery. Pestana, in a prospective clinical series of 29 microsurgical flaps used in several reconstructions, observed a single case of partial loss of the flap, the present technology having a relevant role in intraoperative decision making. In the same year, Newman et al. The first application of the system in breast reconstruction surgery. In an initial series of 10 consecutive cases of reconstruction with microsurgical flaps, in 4 cases the system allowed the intraoperative identification of areas of low perfusion, thus changing the surgical procedure. According to the authors, there was a 95% correlation between indocyanine laser assisted and subsequent development of mastectomy skin necrosis, with sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 91%. Similarly, Murray et al. Evaluated the intraoperative perfusion, however,