Transoral robotic surgery in head and neck cancer

Robotic surgery in the field of head and neck cancer was initiated at the beginning of this century. In the last decade, transoral robotic surgery (TORS) had to prove its oncological equivalence to standardised conservative treatment regimens like radiotherapy and radiochemotherapy and to other transoral or open surgical procedures. The amount of data on oncological efficacy, cost effectiveness and long-term outcomes has continued to increase over the last few years. The transoral approach enables minimally invasive tumour resection, which helps to minimize functional postoperative deficits. Compared with traditional concurrent radiochemotherapy (CRCT), the radiation dose is lower in the adjuvant setting and therefore helps to reduce long-term toxicities. Moreover, in case of absent risk factors in the histological specimen, it might be possible to avoid additional chemotherapy. Thus, long-term toxicities eventually caused by CRCT might be decreased.