SynthesisSurgical endoscopy2025
The use of indocyanine green and near-infrared fluorescence in the detection of metastatic lymph nodes during oesophageal and gastric cancer resection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Surgical endoscopy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Comparing ICG-Guided vs. Conventional Laparoscopic Lymphadenectomy in Gastric Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of gastrointestinal cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Fluorescence-guided lymphadenectomy in gastric cancer surgery: a novel intraoperative indocyanine green injection.Arquivos brasileiros de cirurgia digestiva : ABCD = Brazilian archives of digestive surgery · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLymph node status is one of the most important prognosticating factors for patients afflicted by oesophageal cancer (OC) and gastric cancer (GC), and lymphadenectomy during surgery is therefore an essential step to ensure complete oncological resection and accurate disease staging. Intraoperative lymph node visualisation using near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) and indocyanine green (ICG) tracing has been postulated to improve the overall lymph node yield, and to ensure the appropriate radicality, but its usefulness in the detection of metastatic lymph nodes remains unclear.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the relevant literature to ascertain the accuracy of ICG-guided lymphadenectomy in the detection of metastatic nodes in OC and GC. The primary outcomes were the sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic odds ratio of ICG-guided lymphadenectomy. Secondary outcomes included measurement of the effect of prior neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), tumour characteristics and method of ICG administration. Summary receiver operator characteristic (SROC) curves were built to illustrate the relationship between the sensitivity of ICG and false positive rate.
resultsFrom an initial search of 6,302 articles, 15 studies met the criteria for inclusion, incorporating 4,004 patients. The pooled sensitivity for metastatic node detection was 69.1% (95% CI 56.5-79.3%), specificity 47.4% (38.0-56.9%), and DOR 2.02 (1.40-2.92). The SROC curve for diagnostic test accuracy yielded an area under the curve of 0.60. The use of NAC adversely affected the sensitivity of ICG 74.7% [59.2-85.8%] without NAC; 52.8% [43.6-61.9%] with NAC, p = 0.018). No significant difference in efficacy was demonstrated between pathological 'T' stage, or ICG administration method.
conclusionOur findings suggest that the oncological benefits of NIRF and ICG in the context of lymphadenectomy in OC and GC are limited, and that surgeons risk omitting a significant proportion of metastatic nodes if this technique is solely relied upon.
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