Ris F, et al. - In this prospective phase II study (NCT02459405) including non-selected patients undergoing any elective colorectal operation with anastomosis over a 3-year interval in three tertiary hospitals, researchers examined the utility of indocyanine green (ICG) with near-infrared (NIR) imaging in colorectal surgery. Routine NIR-ICG assessment proved feasible in these patients. When NIR-ICG imaging was used, the anastomotic leak rates were lower than those in the participating centres from over 1000 similar operations performed with identical technique but without NIR-ICG technology. Intraoperative decisions may change in accordance to NIR-ICG findings, which may lead to a reduction in anastomotic leak rates.