BACKGROUND

Indocyanine green fluorescence angiography (ICGFA) is gaining popularity as an intraoperative tool to assess flap perfusion. However, it needs interpretation and there is concern regarding a potential for over-debridement with its use. Here we describe an artificial intelligence (AI) method that indicates the extent of flap trimming required.

METHODS

Operative ICGFA recordings from ten consenting patients undergoing flap reconstruction without subsequent partial/total necrosis as part of an approved prospective study (NCT04220242, Institutional Review Board Ref:1/378/2092), provided the training-testing datasets. Drawing from prior similar experience with ICGFA intestinal perfusion signal analysis, five fluorescence intensity and time-related features were analysed (MATLAB R2024a) from stabilised ICGFA imagery. Machine learning model training (with ten-fold cross-validation application) was grounded on the actual trimming by a consultant plastic surgeon (S.P.) experienced in ICGFA. MATLAB classification learner app was used to identify the most important feature and generate partial dependence plots for interpretability during training. Testing involved post-hoc application to unseen videos blinded to surgeon ICGFA interpretation.

RESULTS

Training:testing datasets comprised 7:3 ICGFA videos with 28 and 3 sampled lines respectively. Validation and testing accuracy were 99.9 % and 99.3 % respectively. Maximum fluorescence intensity identified as the most important predictive curve feature. Partial dependence plotting revealed a threshold of 22.1 grayscale units and regions with maximum intensity less then threshold being more likely to be predicted as "excise".

CONCLUSION

The AI method proved discriminative regarding indicating whether to retain or excise peripheral flap portions. Additional prospective patients and expert references are needed to validate generalisability.