Key words: near-infrared fluorescence imaging, surgery, minimally invasive surgery, laparoscopic surgery, robotic surgery, innovation

"Precision navigation in minimally invasive surgery"

‘’There is more than meets the eye’’
Surgeons are more than ever dependent upon technical innovations to perform their surgical procedures safely and efficiently.  Near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging is one of the promising and rapidly developing technical innovations in surgery of the last decade. The purpose of NIRF imaging is to guide the surgical procedure and provide the surgeon with a real-time visualization of organs and structures not or insufficiently seen with the naked eye. With this technique, the unharmful near-infrared light is used in combination with fluorescent dyes or agents to visualise deeper layers of organs and tissues up to a depth of 8-10 mm.

The studies presented in this thesis shed a light on the potential of this technique to enhance the visual and surgical outcomes of a wide range of surgical procedures such as during liver, gallbladder, urological and gynaecologic procedures, respectively.