EP.TU.826Using Indocyanine Green (ICG) during laparoscopic bowel resections for elective cancer patients reduces anastomotic leaks and length of stay

Anastomotic leakage (AL) after colorectal surgery is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Poor perfusion of bowel anastomosis is a significant contributing factor. ICG is a dye administered during laparoscopic surgery to assess bowel perfusion by fluorescent imaging – the aim of this study was to determine whether its use in our centre during elective laparoscopic colorectal cancer resections led to improved patient outcomes. Method Single-centre comparative study of all patients who underwent elective colorectal laparoscopic resections for cancer January 2019- January 2021. Primary outcome investigated was AL. Secondary outcomes: in-patient length of stay, clinical suspicion of AL and post-operative ileus. Cohorts compared with χ2 test. Results 25 patients had resections with ICG, 60 without. None in ICG group, and three in non-ICG group (5%) had AL; p-value 0.29. The ICG group were less likely to have CT for suspected anastomotic leak 12% vs 23.3%, p-value 0.29; and, post-operative ileus 5.3% vs 19.6%, p-value 0.09. Statistically significant reduction in mean inpatient length of stay when ICG used (4.0 days, 95% CI 3.3-4.7) compared to when not used (6.7 days, 95% CI 5.0-8.3). Conclusion Only a small number of previous studies have compared AL rates with and without ICG, finding that its use leads to a significant reduction in AL. While sample size small, our findings supports this. Using ICG also led to a significant reduction in inpatient length of stay. ICG fluorescence angiography is now established as our normal practice for all colorectal resections as a safe, innovative, simple technology.