The Near-infrared Visualization and Pre-emptive Ligation of the Thoracic Duct Effectively Reduce the Chyle Leak Incidence After Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy.

Objective: The aim of the present study is to assess the effectiveness of indocyanine-green (ICG)-guided lymphography (ICG-Lg) in reducing the incidence of chyle leak (CL) after esophagectomy.

Background: Chylothorax may severely impact esophageal cancer surgery, and the pre-emptive ligation of the thoracic duct (TD) is the most widespread control of this complication. Intraoperative ICG-Lg has been recently embedded in minimally invasive esophagectomy to facilitate TD detection and pre-emptive ligation.

Methods: This retrospective analysis included consecutive patients who underwent minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy for cancer at a tertiary referral center between January 2018 and August 2023. Patients were routinely submitted to extended lymphadenectomy with TD ligation and removal. All patients treated after January 2021 underwent ICG-Lg for TD identification and ligation (ICG group) and compared to the previous series (no-ICG group). The primary outcome was the incidence of postoperative CL, while univariate and backward stepwise multivariate logistic regression models were performed to identify associated factors.

Results: After including 320 patients, 151 (ICG group) were submitted to ICG-Lg before the pre-emptive TD ligation. Both groups presented similar characteristics, except for neoadjuvant therapy (P=<0.001) and preoperative comorbidities (P=0.045). Intraoperative ICG-Lg significantly reduced the incidence of postoperative CL (11.8% vs 4.6%, P=0.026) and was significantly associated with shorter median length of hospital stay (13 vs 9 days, P=0.006). However, CL after ICG-Lg was more likely to require repairing reoperation (P=0.050).

Conclusions: Intraoperative ICG-Lg demonstrated significantly lower rates of CL after total minimally invasive esophagectomy and, therefore, it should be routinely embedded in the standardized surgical technique of high-volume centers for esophageal cancer.