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

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.

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

Primary outcomes

• Accuracy rate of lymph node dissection [1 week after operation]: According to postoperative pathological results, investigate the detection rate of metastatic lymph nodes using the near-infrared indocyanine green fluorescence imaging system in lymph node dissection for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Secondary outcomes

• Sensitivity and specificity of lymph node dissection [1 week after operation]: Sensitivity and specificity of lymph node dissection of each arm（according to postoperative pathology）
• The number of lymph nodes [1 week after operation]: The number of lymph nodes between the both groups
• False positive rate of lymph node dissection [1 week after operation]: False positive rate of lymph node dissectionof each arm（according to postoperative pathology）
• False negative rate of lymph node dissection [1 week after operation]: False negative rate of lymph node dissection of each arm（according to postoperative pathology）

Sex: All, ages: 18 Years to 75 Years

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.