Emergency Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Guided by Indocyanine Green (ICG) Fluorescence: a Single Center Experience

Acute calculous cholecystitis, typically occurs in patients with gallstones, accounts for 90 to 95% of acute cholecystitis. Emergent laparscopic cholecystectomy (ELC) is the major treatment option. Traditionally, the time frame for ELC is generally considered to be within 72 hours from the onset of symptoms. However, with the development of surgical techniques, nowadays, ELC is also considered for patients with symptoms onset within 10 days and hospital stays within 7 days. The determination of the time frame for ELC in acute cholecystitis is primarily based on the risk of complications occurring. Comparing to delayed laparscopic cholecystectomy (DLC), ELC has advantages in post-operative complications in patients with symptoms onset within 72 hours. Post-operative complications for both DLC and ELC include bile leaks, intestinal obstruction, ascites, intraperitoneal hemorrhage, would bleeding and hematoma, wound infection and calculus remaining. Most of them associate with intraoperative procedures. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy guided by indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence, comparing to conventional laparscopic procedures, can help the surgeons to identify bile tracts and therefore may reduce the complications. Therefore, we conduct this case series report to share our single center experience of surgical outcomes and economic effectiveness of laparoscopic cholecystectomy guided by ICG.

The surgical outcomes are evaluated by both intraoperative events and postoperative events. Intraoperative events contain the following items: (1) incidence of intraoperative accidental bile tract injury, (2) intraoperative bleeding (volume), (3) operation time. Postoperative events contain the following items: (1) incidence of complications staging 2 and above according to Clavien Dindo Grade during hospital stay, (2) duration of postoperative hospital stay. The economic effectiveness is evaluated by cost of hospital stay.