Consensus conference statement on fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) ESSO course on fluorescence-guided surgery

Area of Science:

• Surgical Innovation
• Medical Imaging Techniques
• Evidence-Based Medicine

Background:

• Fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) shows promise across surgical specialties but lacks evidence for standard-of-care adoption.
• A consensus statement was developed to address the current applications of FGS.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a consensus on the current applications of fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS).
• To evaluate expert agreement on FGS utility across different surgical domains.

Main Methods:

• An international FGS course participants anonymously voted on 36 statements.
• Consensus required ≥70% agreement with ≥80% participation.
• Voting was stratified by user experience across five applicability domains.

Main Results:

• Consensus was reached on 17 out of 36 statements (45%).
• Highest agreement was for tissue perfusion (71%) and biliary/urinary tract visualization (67%).
• Lowest agreement (0%) was observed for tumor imaging.

Conclusions:

• FGS is established for tissue perfusion and vital structure imaging.
• Lymphatic imaging is evolving; tumor imaging shows early promise but requires more research.
• Quantification and targeted imaging are advancing, necessitating further clinical validation.