title: Near infrared fluorescence lymphatic laparoscopy of the colon and mesocolon.
abstract: During surgery, a surgeon relies on the vision of his eyes and the touch of his hands. While laparoscopic surgery for colon cancer has proven to be safe and effective, it still remains a technically difficult procedure. Although it is associated with reduced haptic feedback, by enforcing the power of visual guidance, the loss of this feedback can be (partly) compensated for. Here we describe how the use of near-infrared dyes and fluorescence laparoscopy could help improve tumour staging and therefore lead to better selection of patients for postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. More controversially, and analogous to melanoma and breast cancer surgery with sentinel node biopsy, we speculate that local resection with SLN harvesting in early colon cancer might change the therapeutic and surgical strategy in colon cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. m.ankersmit1@vumc.nl
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ankersmit
authors.forename: M H G M
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: van der Pas
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: van Dam
authors.forename: W J H J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Meijerink
mesh_terms: D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005453:Fluorescence; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D006801:Humans; D007208:Indocyanine Green; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D061206:Neoplasm Micrometastasis / Q000175:diagnosis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012394:Rosaniline Dyes; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D012394:Rosaniline Dyes; C008769:sulfan blue; D007208:Indocyanine Green