The Value of Indocyanine Green-guided Near-infrared Fluorescence Technology in Tracing Sentinel Lymph Nodes During Esophagectomy

NCT ID: NCT07303231

Last Updated: 2025-12-24

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

NOT_YET_RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

PHASE3

Total Enrollment

144 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2026-01-01

Study Completion Date

2028-02-01

Brief Summary

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Sentinel lymph nodes, as the primary site of tumor metastasis, play a pivotal role in assessing patient prognosis and planning subsequent treatment strategies. The investigators plan to conduct a multicenter, prospective cohort study to evaluate the effectiveness of indocyanine green (ICG)-guided near-infrared imaging in tracing sentinel lymph node during esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) surgery, compared with the gold standard of complete lymph node dissection (CLND), in detecting metastatic disease. This study aims to address the following core questions:

1. In ESCC patients undergoing surgery, can sentinel lymph node biopsy reduce unnecessary lymph node dissection?
2. In ESCC patients undergoing surgery, can reducing lymph node dissection decrease postoperative complications such as chylothorax and weakened immunity? During the study, ICG will be injected around the tumor under intraoperative gastroscopy guidance, followed by tracking of fluorescent lymph nodes using a thoracoscopic near-infrared camera. Professional thoracic surgeons will group and mark these lymph nodes for intraoperative frozen pathology. Subsequent CLND and routine postoperative pathology will be performed. This study will collect patients' clinical information, ICG imaging results, pathological examination results, and other data for statistical analysis to assess the sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) of the ICG imaging system. If the study results support the effectiveness of the ICG imaging system, it has the potential to become an important tool for sentinel lymph node localization and biopsy in future ESCC surgeries, helping to reduce unnecessary lymph node resection and improve surgical efficiency and safety.

Participants will:

1. Undergo minimally invasive ESCC surgery within 2 weeks of enrollment, including the 14th day.
2. Receive ICG injection around the tumor under intraoperative gastroscopy guidance during surgery.
3. Have perioperative, postoperative pathology, and complication information recorded.
4. Undergo standardized follow-up after surgery.

Detailed Description

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This study will be accepted in esophageal cancer patients with Radical Esophag-ectomy as the research object. The investigators will divide participants into two groups: experimental group for injection of indocyanine green group and control group for injectable in-docyanine green group.The investigators will compare with the accuracy,false positive rate and false negative rate,sensitivity, specificity and related indicators of intraoperative lymph node cleaning,in order to explore the common position of esophageal cancer sentinel lymph node,guidance of esophageal cancer lymph node cleaning thoroughly.

Conditions

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Esophageal Cancer Sentinel Lymph Node Lymphadenectomy Indocyanine Green

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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(ICG group) receiving VATS with near-infrared imaging with indocyanine green to visualize

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Minimally invasive surgery for esophageal cancer using near-infrared indocyanine green fluorescence to visualize the sentinel lymph node

Intervention Type DRUG

A multicenter, prospective cohort study will be conducted. Enrolled patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma will undergo minimally invasive radical esophagectomy. During surgery, ICG will be injected around the tumor under gastroscopy guidance, and fluorescent lymph nodes will be tracked using a thoracoscopic near-infrared camera. These lymph nodes will be grouped and marked by professional thoracic surgeons, and intraoperative frozen pathology results will be recorded. Subsequent CLND will be performed. The study will collect and analyze patients' clinical information, ICG imaging results, and pathological examination results to explore the effectiveness of the ICG imaging system.

(Control group) receiving VATS without near-infrared imaging with indocyanine g

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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Minimally invasive surgery for esophageal cancer using near-infrared indocyanine green fluorescence to visualize the sentinel lymph node

A multicenter, prospective cohort study will be conducted. Enrolled patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma will undergo minimally invasive radical esophagectomy. During surgery, ICG will be injected around the tumor under gastroscopy guidance, and fluorescent lymph nodes will be tracked using a thoracoscopic near-infrared camera. These lymph nodes will be grouped and marked by professional thoracic surgeons, and intraoperative frozen pathology results will be recorded. Subsequent CLND will be performed. The study will collect and analyze patients' clinical information, ICG imaging results, and pathological examination results to explore the effectiveness of the ICG imaging system.

Intervention Type DRUG

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

1. Age and gender: 18-75 years old, male and female unlimited;
2. Preoperative biopsy was pathologically diagnosed as esophageal squamous cell carcinoma;
3. Preoperative combination with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy;
4. Surgical resection of esophageal carcinoma under endoscopic selection and intraoperative anastomosis;
5. Heart, lung, liver and kidney functions can tolerate operation;
6. Patients and their family members can understand and are willing to participate in this clinical study and sign the informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Allergic to ICG or iodine;
2. Patients with a history of chest surgery or thoracic lymph node dissection;
3. Patients needing emergency surgery;
4. Patients whose tumors involve neighboring organs and need to be removed by combining organs;
5. Patients with tumor recurrence or distant metastasis;
6. Patients who had participated in or were participating in other clinical trials within the previous 4 weeks were included;
7. A history of serious mental illness;
8. Pregnant or lactating women;
9. Patients with other conditions considered by the researcher should not participate in the study.
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

75 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Henan Cancer Hospital

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role collaborator

The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

The University of Hong Kong

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Fujian Medical University Union Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Locations

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Fujian Medical University Union Hospital

Fuzhou, Fujian, China

Site Status

Countries

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China

Central Contacts

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Bin Zheng, M.D.

Role: CONTACT

Phone: 15959002753

Email: [email protected]

Jianting Du, M.D., Ph.D

Role: CONTACT

Phone: 13023806690

Email: [email protected]

Facility Contacts

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Bin Zheng

Role: primary

Other Identifiers

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LYNX-ICG

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id