Bedside hyperspectral imaging indicates a microcirculatory sepsis pattern - an observational study.

INTRODUCTION: Microcirculatory alterations are key mechanisms in sepsis pathophysiology leading to tissue hypoxia, edema formation, and organ dysfunction. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is an emerging imaging technology that uses tissue-light interactions to evaluate biochemical tissue characteristics including tissue oxygenation, hemoglobin content and water content. Currently, clinical data for HSI technologies in critical ill patients are still limited. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: TIVITA® Tissue System was used to measure Tissue oxygenation (StO2), Tissue Hemoglobin Index (THI), Near Infrared Perfusion Index (NPI) and Tissue Water Index (TWI) in 25 healthy volunteers and 25 septic patients. HSI measurement sites were the palm, the fingertip, and a suprapatellar knee area. Septic patients were evaluated on admission to the ICU (E), 6 h afterwards (E+6) and three times a day (t3-t9) within a total observation period of 72 h. Primary outcome was the correlation of HSI results with daily SOFA-scores. RESULTS: Serial HSI at the three measurement sites in healthy volunteers showed a low mean variance expressing high retest reliability. HSI at E demonstrated significantly lower StO2 and NPI as well as higher TWI at the palm and fingertip in septic patients compared to healthy volunteers. StO2 and TWI showed corresponding results at the suprapatellar knee area. In septic patients, palm and fingertip THI identified survivors (E-t4) and revealed predictivity for 28-day mortality (E). Fingertip StO2 and THI correlated to SOFA-score on day 2. TWI was consistently increased in relation to the TWI range of healthy controls during the observation time. Palm TWI correlated positively with SOFA scores on day 3. DISCUSSION: HSI results in septic patients point to a distinctive microcirculatory pattern indicative of reduced skin oxygenation and perfusion quality combined with increased blood pooling and tissue water content. THI might possess risk-stratification properties and TWI could allow tissue edema evaluation in critically ill patients. CONCLUSION: HSI technologies could open new perspectives in microcirculatory monitoring by visualizing oxygenation and perfusion quality combined with tissue water content in critically ill patients - a prerequisite for future tissue perfusion guided therapy concepts in intensive care medicine.

Spectral characterization of intraoperative renal perfusion using hyperspectral imaging and artificial intelligence.

Accurate intraoperative assessment of organ perfusion is a pivotal determinant in preserving organ function e.g. during kidney surgery including partial nephrectomy or kidney transplantation. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) has great potential to objectively describe and quantify this perfusion as opposed to conventional surrogate techniques such as ultrasound flowmeter, indocyanine green or the subjective eye of the surgeon. An established live porcine model under general anesthesia received median laparotomy and renal mobilization. Different scenarios that were measured using HSI were (1) complete, (2) gradual and (3) partial malperfusion. The differences in spectral reflectance as well as HSI oxygenation (StO2) between different perfusion states were compelling and as high as 56.9% with 70.3% (± 11.0%) for "physiological" vs. 13.4% (± 3.1%) for "venous congestion". A machine learning (ML) algorithm was able to distinguish between these perfusion states with a balanced prediction accuracy of 97.8%. Data from this porcine study including 1300 recordings across 57 individuals was compared to a human dataset of 104 recordings across 17 individuals suggesting clinical transferability. Therefore, HSI is a highly promising tool for intraoperative microvascular evaluation of perfusion states with great advantages over existing surrogate techniques. Clinical trials are required to prove patient benefit.

Crystalloid volume versus catecholamines for management of hemorrhagic shock during esophagectomy - assessment of microcirculatory tissue oxygenation of the gastric conduit in a porcine model using hyperspectral imaging - an experimental study.

INTRODUCTION: Oncologic esophagectomy is a two-cavity procedure with considerable morbidity and mortality. Complex anatomy and the proximity to major vessels constitute a risk for massive intraoperative hemorrhage. Currently, there is no conclusive consensus on the ideal anesthesiologic countermeasure in case of such immense blood loss. The objective of this work was to identify the most promising anesthesiologic management in case of intraoperative hemorrhage with regards to tissue perfusion of the gastric conduit during esophagectomy using hyperspectral imaging (HSI). MATERIAL AND METHODS: An established live porcine model (n=32) for esophagectomy was used with gastric conduit formation and simulation of a linear stapled side-to-side esophagogastrostomy. After a standardized procedure of controlled blood loss of about 1 L per pig, the four experimental groups (n=8 each) differed in anesthesiologic intervention i.e. (I) permissive hypotension, (II) catecholamine therapy using noradrenaline, (III) crystalloid volume supplementation and (IV) combined crystalloid volume supplementation with noradrenaline therapy. HSI tissue oxygenation (StO2) of the gastric conduit was evaluated and correlated with systemic perfusion parameters. Measurements were conducted before (T0) and after (T1) laparotomy, after hemorrhage (T2) and 60 minutes (T3) and 120 minutes (T4) after anesthesiologic intervention. RESULTS: StO2 values of the gastric conduit showed significantly different results between the four experimental groups with 63.3% (±7.6%) after permissive hypotension (I), 45.9% (±6.4%) after catecholamine therapy (II), 70.5% (±6.1%) after crystalloid volume supplementation (III) and 69.0% (±3.7%) after combined therapy (IV). StO2 values correlated strongly with systemic lactate values (r=-0.67; CI -0.77 to -0.54), which is an established prognostic factor. CONCLUSION: Crystalloid volume supplementation (III) yields the highest StO2 values and lowest systemic lactate values and therefore appears to be the superior primary treatment strategy after hemorrhage during esophagectomy with regards to microcirculatory tissue oxygenation of the gastric conduit.

Combined two-stage total pancreatoduodenectomy and esophagectomy for synchronous malignancy of the pancreatic corpus and the esophagus: A surgical case report.

INTRODUCTION: Synchronous visceral malignancy is rare especially for esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma combined with malignancy in the pancreas. So far only 7 cases of combined partial pancreatoduodenectomy and esophagectomy for synchronous malignancy have been described in the literature and none for combined total pancreatectomy and esophagectomy. PRESENTATION OF CASE: We report the case of a 67-year-old male patient, who underwent multi-modality treatment including two-stage total pancreatoduodenectomy and subsequent Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy for synchronous adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus and pancreatic multilocal metastases of a renal cell carcinoma after nephrectomy 17 years ago. Pathology revealed R0 resections for both malignancies and there were no postoperative complications. A 12 months follow-up showed no signs of recurrence and a good quality of life. CONCLUSION: Curative-intent, combined oncological two-stage open total pancreatoduodenectomy and esophagectomy with several days interval is safe and feasible in selected cases when performed by an experienced interdisciplinary team in a high-volume surgical center.

Optimization of anastomotic technique and gastric conduit perfusion with hyperspectral imaging and machine learning in an experimental model for minimally invasive esophagectomy.

INTRODUCTION: Esophagectomy is the mainstay of esophageal cancer treatment, but anastomotic insufficiency related morbidity and mortality remain challenging for patient outcome. Therefore, the objective of this work was to optimize anastomotic technique and gastric conduit perfusion with hyperspectral imaging (HSI) for total minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) with linear stapled anastomosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A live porcine model (n = 58) for MIE was used with gastric conduit formation and simulation of linear stapled side-to-side esophagogastrostomy. Four main experimental groups differed in stapling length (3 vs. 6 cm) and simulation of anastomotic position on the conduit (cranial vs. caudal). Tissue oxygenation around the anastomotic simulation site was evaluated using HSI and was validated with histopathology. RESULTS: The tissue oxygenation (ΔStO2) after the anastomotic simulation remained constant only for the short stapler in caudal position (-0.4 ± 4.4%, n.s.) while it was impaired markedly in the other groups (short-cranial: -15.6 ± 11.5%, p = 0.0002; long-cranial: -20.4 ± 7.6%, p = 0.0126; long-caudal: -16.1 ± 9.4%, p < 0.0001). Tissue samples from avascular stomach as measured by HSI showed correspondent eosinophilic pre-necrotic changes in 35.7 ± 9.7% of the surface area. CONCLUSION: Tissue oxygenation at the site of anastomotic simulation of the gastric conduit during MIE is influenced by stapling technique. Optimal oxygenation was achieved with a short stapler (3 cm) and sufficient distance of the simulated anastomosis to the cranial end of the gastric conduit. HSI tissue deoxygenation corresponded to histopathologic necrotic tissue changes. The experimental model with HSI and ML allow for systematic optimization of gastric conduit perfusion and anastomotic technique while clinical translation will have to be proven.