Decreased/insufficient blood perfusion is an important risk factor for postoperative anastomotic leakage (AL), one of the most major and devastating complications of colorectal cancer surgery. The traditional evaluation of bowel perfusion has remained the subjective judgement of surgeons based on white light visualization, bowel peristalsis and checking for bleeding at the edge of the bowel, by which, however, might potentially lead to a false conclusion from time to time. The peripheral intravenous administration of ICG fluorescence can provide a real time assessment of intestinal perfusion to minimize the incidence of AL.