Supervisors info:
Αναπλ. Καθ. Χειρουργικής Ιωάννης Γκρινιάτσος, Ομοτ. Καθ. Χρήστος Π. Τσιγκρής, Ομοτ. Καθ. Θεόδωρος Διαμαντής
Summary:
Background:Standard treatment for patients with oropharyngeal cancer has been
surgery, in some cases including Radiation Therapy and/or neck dissection.
According to epidemiological studies however, there has been an increase in the
incidence of oropharyngeal cancer. As a result the role of the Da-Vinci robot
has also increased dramatically because of additional developments and
renements, and it has been used for a wide range of procedures in the head and
neck, particularly transorally.
Aim:A review of literature on all emerging applications of transoral robotic
surgery (TORS) in oropharyngeal malignancies.
Methods:Articles were identified through the following keyword searches:
“transoral robotic surgery”, “oropharyngeal cancer”, “oropharynx-TORS”,
“unknown primary’, “TORS-retropharyngeal space’’ and “TORS-tongue base”. 2011
reviews for SCC oropharyngeal cancer and all available publications for all the
other emerging oropharyngeal applications were analyzed. Abstracts, case
reports, expert opinions, as well as non-English publications were excluded.
The complete search yielded 27 studies, published until January 2016.
Results:The total number of patients in all trials was 1729. From the articles
analyzed there were 36 series of patients who underwent TORS for different
subsites of oropharyngeal cancer.
Conclusions:TORS changes the number of unknown primary tumors of head and neck
that is diagnosed, whereas it permits less invasive surgical techniques in
cancer of advanced stage. TORS is superior to the procedure of panendoscopy,
particularly when treating head and neck tumors that are accessed with
difficulty, or when the potential for surgical resection with negative margins
may prevent the use of chemotherapy and/or may lessen the fields of radiation
treatment.
Keywords:
Transoral robotic surgery, Oropharyngeal cancer, Unknown primary, Retropharyngeal space, Tongue base
