Indocyanine green fluorescence angiography for free flap monitoring: A pilot study.

Objective: We evaluated the feasibility and the tolerance of repeated fluorescent indocyanine green angiography in free flap monitoring, and determined the intraoperative predictive values of flap vitality.

Background: The free flap failure rate has been significantly reduced, but free flap loss still occurs and remains a costly disaster. Repeated clinical examinations are commonly used for flap monitoring, but they can be unreliable because of their subjectivity.