[Application of Fluorescence Imaging to Liver Cancer Surgery]

In hepatobiliary surgery, intraoperative fluorescence imaging can be used for real-time identification of the extrahepatic bile ducts (fluorescence cholangiography), liver cancers, and hepatic segmental boundaries, based on biliary excretion as well as fluorescence property of indocyanine green(ICG). These techniques have mainly been developed in Japan and currently become used worldwide, with the advancement and spread of near-infrared imaging systems for open and laparoscopic surgery. It can be expected that novel photodynamic therapy for liver cancers is developed by applying accumulation of biliary excreted agents like ICG in the cancer tissues not only to intraoperative imaging but also to active treatments.