Related Experiment Video For computed tomography
Updated: Jul 13, 2025
Electromagnetic Navigation Transthoracic Nodule Localization for Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery
Published on: May 4, 2022
Percutaneous Computed Tomography (CT)-Guided Localization with Indocyanine Green for the Thoracoscopic Resection of
Emanuele Voulaz1,2, Veronica Maria Giudici1, Ezio Lanza2,3
1Division of Thoracic Surgery, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Via Manzoni 56 Rozzano, 20089 Milan, Italy.
Background:
The identification of small lung nodules is challenging during mini-invasive thoracic surgery. Unable to palpate them directly, surgeons have developed several methods to preoperatively localize pulmonary nodules, including the computed tomography-guided positioning of coils or metallic landmarks (hook wire) or bronchoscopic marking.
Methods:
We present a series of patients scheduled for the video-assisted thoracoscopic sublobar resection of small pulmonary nodules, in which we performed preoperative percutaneous computed tomography (CT)-guided nodule localization through the injection of a mixture of indocyanine green and human albumin.
Results:
A total of 40 patients underwent a preoperative CT-guided injection of indocyanine green followed by VATS resection within 24 h. Patients tolerated the procedure well, no pain medication was administrated, and no complications were observed during the marking procedure. All pulmonary nodules were easily detected and successfully resected.
Conclusion:
the near-infrared dye marking solution of indocyanine green (ICG) with diluted human albumin was safe, effective, and easy to perform. The ICG solution has the potential to facilitate the accurate localization and resection of pulmonary nodules during VATS surgery, avoiding the risk of marker displacement/migration.
