Surgical Enhancement With the Placement of Temporary Bilateral Ureteral Stents With Indocyanine Green Injection for All Stages of Endometriosis in vNOTES: Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the time to place temporary bilateral stents with indocyanine green (ICG) injection, time to intra-operative identification of bilateral ureters - with and without the use of ICG, and number of times for ICG activation in endometriosis excision surgery. DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional study. SETTING: Single Tertiary Academic Hospital. PATIENTS: Fifty serial patients with functioning pelvic ureters, who underwent vaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (vNOTES) for all stages of endometriosis excision between September 2023 and May 2024. INTERVENTIONS: Placement of temporary bilateral ureteral stents with indocyanine green injection before the start of vNOTES, noting the time needed to identify intra-peritoneal ureters with and without ICG activation, and average number of times ICG was activated for endometriosis excision. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The median time to place bilateral ureteral stents with ICG injection was 229 seconds. The median time for intra-operative ureteral identification with ICG was 1s (L) and 1s (R). The median time for intra-operative ureteral identification without ICG was 17s (L) and 17s (R). The median time ICG was activated for ureteral identification to perform endometriosis excision was 12 times (L), 11 times (R). From the observations previously described, we share the potential of improved efficiency and efficacy in using ICG in ureteral identification for endometriosis surgery. CONCLUSION: Placement of temporary bilateral ureteral stents with ICG has the potential for more efficient ureteral identification even after including time for ureteral stent placement and ICG injection. The upfront time needed to place stents may prove to lead to a safer, more efficient procedure.