Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. Aug 27, 2025; 17(8): 102921
Published online Aug 27, 2025. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v17.i8.102921
Transforming biliary surgery: Innovations in fluorescence-guided imaging and indocyanine green application
Thai-Hau Koo, Xue-Bin Leong, Yi-Lin Lee, Firdaus Hayati, Mohd Hazeman Zakaria, Andee Dzulkarnaen Zakaria
Thai-Hau Koo, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medical Sciences and Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kota Bharu 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia
Xue-Bin Leong, Yi-Lin Lee, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Health Campus, Kubang Kerian 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia
Firdaus Hayati, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia
Mohd Hazeman Zakaria, Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
Andee Dzulkarnaen Zakaria, Department of Surgery, School of Medical Sciences and Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kota Bharu 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia
Author contributions: Koo TH, Hayati F, and Zakaria AD designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript; Leong XB, Lee YL, and Zakaria MH contributed to the discussion and design of the manuscript; Koo TH, Leong XB, Lee YL, Zakaria MH, and Zakaria AD contributed to the writing and editing of the manuscript, illustrations, and review of the literature; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report having no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Andee Dzulkarnaen Zakaria, MD, Professor, Department of Surgery, School of Medical Sciences and Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Jalan Raja Perempuan Zainab 2, Kota Bharu 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia. andee@usm.my
Received: November 22, 2024
Revised: March 8, 2025
Accepted: April 7, 2025
Published online: August 27, 2025
Processing time: 296 Days and 2.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Multicolor near-infrared fluorescence imaging using indocyanine green has emerged as a transformative tool in laparoscopic cholecystectomy, enhancing the real-time visualization of biliary anatomy and reducing bile duct injuries. This innovative technique improves the identification of critical structures, such as the cystic and common bile ducts even in challenging cases involving inflammation or anatomical variations. By offering superior safety, cost-effectiveness, and the potential for surgical training, indocyanine green fluorescence cholangiography demonstrates advantages over conventional methods. However, challenges such as tissue penetration and workflow integration require further investigation through standard protocols and multicenter trials to establish its role as a standard of care.