Study design: This is an illustration of two case reports.
Objective: We present two cases where intradural indocyanine-green (ICG) videography facilitated interpretation of vascular supply patterns and anatomic landmarks in intramedullary spinal lesions.
Summary of background data: ICG videography is a new, complimentary imaging method, that is routinely employed in the context of vascular neurosurgical procedures and has recently been described to facilitate localization of intradural spinal lesions before dural opening. Its role in the setting of intramedullary lesions is less well defined.
Methods: Two cases are presented. The first patient (case 1) had a small, diffuse, intramedullary lesion of unknown etiology who was referred for additional work-up and surgery. The second patient had presented with progressive paraparesis and ataxia due to an extensive intradural lesion, and he was referred for resection of the tumor.Routine exposure of the spinal cord via (hemi-)laminectomy and durotomy was followed by ICG videography (injection of intravenous indocyanine green, visualization with operating microscope in combination with an additional fluorescent light source) to guide the surgical strategy.
Results: In case 1, ICG videography helped to delineate the anatomic midline for optimization of myelotomy. In case 2, imaging was able to identify arterial feeders of the highly vascularized lesion and simplified safe removal of the lesion.
Conclusion: ICG videography may represent a useful adjunct for optimization of surgical approach and strategy in intramedullary spinal tumors in selected cases. The anatomic midline can be safely identified in cases where usual landmarks are distorted, and better interpretation of supply patterns in highly vascularized lesions may increase safety of resection.