Title:Minimally Invasive Transoral Surgical Treatment for Oropharyngeal Carcinoma
Volume: 11
Issue: 1
Author(s): Junkichi Yokoyama, Shinichi Ohba, Masataka Kojima and Mizuno Sakai
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Function preservation, Human papillomavirus (HPV), minimally invasive treatment,
oropharyngeal carcinoma, transoral surgical treatment, transoral laser microsurgery.
Abstract: In a recent years, oropharyngeal carcinoma has continued to gradually increase
throughout the world due to the prevalence of Human papillomavirus(HPV)-associated oropharyngeal
carcinoma.Traditionally, the standard form of treatment employed was an open
surgical procedure combining mandibulectomy with a free flap graft. However, many reports
indicate that this procedure can result in a high degree of postoperative morbidities and poor quality of
life when compared with transoral surgery. Furthermore, transoral surgery is a minimally invasive technique
which has demonstrated excellent oncologic, aesthetic and functional outcomes.
In view of the fact that radiation therapy is regarded as being a relatively effective treatment for HPVassociated
oropharyngeal carcinoma, it is a standard procedure for concurrent chemoradiotherapy to be employed
in order to increase organ-preservation. However, radiation oncologists have reported severe complications
such as dysphagia. At the present time, effective management of this disease has not been established
and therefore remains controversial.
In this chapter, we describe the present status of transoral resection, and advantages and disadvantages of
transoral surgery when compared with available other surgical procedures and chemoradiotherapy.
