Learn about the benefits that Fluorescence Guided Surgery can provide

Fluorescence Guided Surgery is being rapidly adopted in nearly every surgical specialty. This website has highlighted gallbladder, colon, and breast reconstruction surgeries because these procedures impact a large number of patients every year. That doesn’t mean that the benefits of Fluorescence Guided Surgery are restricted to these procedures. In almost every surgery, evaluation, maintenance, and restoration of blood flow is critical to a positive outcome. Fluorescence Guided Surgery can make a real difference in a surgeon’s ability to precisely evaluate blood flow and make decisions and adjustments during surgery to ensure the best outcome possible for your surgery.

Fluorescence Guided Surgery is an advanced technology that allows surgeons to operate with more information, and therefore with greater precision. As a medical imaging technique, it allows for advanced imaging in real time, during your operation. While traditional imaging technologies such as X-Rays and CT scans can provide excellent images, they are all limited to providing static images (photographs) at only one point in time during the surgery. You could compare these images to using a paper map that you might have used in the past while planning a trip. Fluorescence imaging is like using a GPS, offering accurate information and guidance in real time. Fluorescence Guided Surgery offers both the surgeon and the patient real benefits that are significant.

Fluorescence Guided Surgery is simple and safe. A dye approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is injected into the patient and the dye then circulates throughout the bloodstream.  Special cameras can see the dye with pinpoint accuracy in the infrared spectrum of light that is invisible to the naked eye. Quite simply, the image the surgeon sees shows the dye glowing bright green wherever there is healthy blood flow. Importantly, areas of poor blood flow do not illuminate.

Use the search function on this page to locate a surgeon in your area who uses fluorescence guided surgical techniques.