The Effect of Chemoradiotherapy on Gastric Perfusion in Patients With Gastric Cancer.

Screening Laparoscopy:

As part of the standard care for gastric cancer, all patients undergo a screening laparoscopy before entering neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The procedure is performed to detect overt metastases not detected on the CT/PET-CT scans. First, the patient is placed under a standardized general anesthesia, and the laparoscopic set-up is completed. After anesthesia a peripheral arterial catheter will be placed in order acquire reading of cardia output and stroke volume. The patient will then be fluid optimized using a standardized stroke volume (SV) optimization algorithm. The abdomen is inspected visually for signs of metastatic disease. The small bowel is then manipulated, allowing for visualization of the stomach. A bolus of ICG (0.2 mg/kg body weight) will be injected intravenously and flushed with 5 mL of saline. Gastric perfusion will subsequently be assessed along specific regions of interest (ROI) with q-ICG to obtain baseline perfusion values.

As a substudy, 10 patients will have two measurements with ICG during the screening laparoscopy, one befor eand one after fluid optimization. These patients will receive an ICG dose of 0.1 mg/kg body weight per measurement, totalling 0.2 mg/kg after the two measurements.

Resection of gastric cancer:

The patient is placed under general anesthesia and after the stomach is visualized through surgical incision, a bolus of ICG (0.2 mg/kg body weight) will be injected intravenously and flushed with 5 mL of saline. The ROIs (the same ROIs as described in 3.7.1) will then be assessed with q-ICG. The anesthetic protocol will up to this point match that of the setting during the screening laparoscopy.