BL-760 dye shows potential to decrease risk in laparoscopic cholecystectomy procedure - Children's National

Researchers at Children's National Hospital recently conducted a study testing BL-760, a "near-infrared" fluorescent dye that makes bile ducts more visible during laparoscopic cholecystectomy, or the removal of the gallbladder.

Building upon previous research by Richard Cha, PhD, and the Vision and Robotics Laboratory at the Sheikh Zayed Institute of Pediatric Surgical Innovation, the study shows the potential for BL-760 to be a viable tool for eliminating common mistakes in laparoscopic cholecystectomy and brings it one step closer to entering clinical trials.

The big picture

Over the course of the pre-clinical study, four total surgeries were successfully conducted with BL-760 guidance, the first two to clip specific ducts in the biliary tree and the second set to remove the gallbladder.

BL-760 dye glows under near infrared light allowing for a more specific identification of the bile ducts. During the surgeries, researchers were able to measure how well the BL-760 dye highlighted the bile ducts using target-to-background ratios (TBRs) - or comparing how bright the ducts appeared compared to the surrounding liver tissue.

The TBR in the initial surgeries were 2.42 and 3.22, with the TBR in the last surgeries at 2.83 and 2.60, all desirable and expected results by the team of researchers.

Moving the field forward

Today, Indocyanine green (ICG) dye is most commonly used during laparoscopic cholecystectomy, however, it is far from perfect. Often ICG takes longer to highlight the bile ducts, which is still suboptimal to minimize bile duct injury (BDI).

As the only biliary specific dye for use in the biliary tree, BL-760 has proven to be a more reliable tool, with faster development times and higher specificity of the biliary tree. This tool can help surgeons avoid damaging complications and save patients significant morbidity.

Children's National is proud to contribute to this important work, advancing innovations that improve patient outcomes and reduce medical risks.

Read the full study, "A novel biliary-specific near-infrared fluorescent dye (BL-760) enhances visualization of the biliary tree in a swine inflammatory model of bile duct obstruction," in Surgical Endoscopy.

Authors of the study from Children's National include Alex Halpern, MD, Anthony D. Sandler, MD, Bo Ning, PhD, and Richard Cha, PhD.