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Unsung Heroes - Outpatient Surgery Magazine - November 2019

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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heal or not, and one of the main reasons is because of ischemia." Dr. Schlachta says surgeons look at the color of the tissue and the amount of bleeding that occurs when the bowel is cut. "We do all these tricks to determine if the bowel is healthy when we put it back together," he explains. "Now I can just say, 'Give a dose of ICG,' and that's how I can tell that it's perfused." Another benefit for Dr. Schlachta? Identifying biliary anatomy. "I had a case where I was doing a colon resection," he says. "I used the ICG to determine the viability of the ends of the bowel that I wanted to put back together for the anastomosis." In that same case, it was determined the patient also needed their gallbladder removed, a procedure that was made more difficult because of very challenging anatomy. Dr. Schlachta switched on the ICG system to see the biliary structures. "It worked perfectly," he says. "So we used the technology for bowel profusion and biliary anatomy in the same case." Surgeons using near-infrared fluorescence are developing novel applications, according to Dr. Schlachta, including off-label uses not currently advocated by system manufacturers. "Surgeons are saying, 'This is such an awesome technology. What else can we use it for?'" says Dr. Schlachta, listing applications he's heard about, including lymph node mapping, gynecological proce- dures, and surgeries that involve melanoma and identifying the parathyroid gland. Near-infrared fluorescence continues to evolve. It's far from a fin- ished product, but it's definitely a highly functional platform your surgeons can put to use now. "Great promise, minimal interruption of the workflow and super-cheap," says Dr. Schlachta. "It's a win- ning technology. I can tell you in my own hands, it changes the way I do surgery." OSM 7 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 9

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