Is Identifying the Ureter Using Indocyanine Green in Severe Deep Endometriosis Always Useful?

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Fluorescence imaging using indocyanine green (ICG) has recently gained widespread use in gynecologic surgery and is considered a useful method for facilitation of ureteric identification and dissection during deep endometriosis (DE) surgery [1-3]. However, we encountered a case of DE in which ureteral visualization using intraureteral ICG was inadequate. This video presents clinical details and discusses possible reasons and implications. SETTING: An urban general hospital. Stepwise demonstration with narrated video footage. PARTICIPANTS: A 42-year-old woman presented with dysmenorrhea and chronic pelvic pain. She had a history of surgery for DE (ovarian cystectomy and uterosacral ligament resection). MRI showed uterine leiomyomas, adenomyosis, bilateral ovarian endometrioma, left hematosalpinx, and DE involving the surface of the rectum and uterosacral ligament. INTERVENTIONS: Robot-assisted nerve-sparing hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and complete DE resection was planned using the da Vinci SP. Retrograde intraureteral ICG instillation was performed cystoscopically using ureteral catheters (2.5 mg/mL, 5 mL per side). Due to severe pelvic adhesion and fibrosis, the course of the pelvic ureters could not be identified with ICG fluorescence alone. The non-visualized segment became visible only after careful dissection of fibrotic tissue, and some portions remained non-fluorescent even after complete exposure of the ureter. CONCLUSION: Even minimal periureteral fibrosis, as thin as 1-2 mm, can significantly attenuate fluorescence transmission depending on its density [4,5]. Although intraureteral ICG is a valuable adjunct for ureteral identification during DE surgery, surgeons should be aware of its optical limitations and rely on meticulous anatomical dissection, which remains the cornerstone of safe pelvic surgery.