文摘
In the head and neck, robotic-assisted surgery has two main areas of interest. First, benign and malignant mucosal lesions of the upper aerodigestive tract can be removed in a transoral, minimally invasive fashion (trans oral robotic surgery, TORS), making possible functional, organ-preserving surgery of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Second, the thyroid, parathyroid glands and lympho-fatty tissue of certain neck levels (selective neck dissection) may be removed either through a transaxillary or from a retroauricular, modified facelift incision, without leaving a visible scar behind (trans axillary robotic surgery, TARS). In recent years, TORS has spread considerably also in Germany. After the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved TORS using the da Vinci® surgical system for the treatment of head and neck cancer in December 2009, TORS gained field worldwide. In Germany, there are several ENT units currently offering TORS for their head and neck cancer patients as part of their regular treatment portfolio. In contrast to the United States, TORS competes in Germany not only with primary chemoradiation (CRT), but also with the continentally well-established and similarly minimal invasive trans oral laser microsurgery (TLM) in the ENT, Head and Neck departments. Besides TLM, TORS is now also available to head and neck cancer surgeons in Germany.
