title: Transoral robotic-assisted surgery for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: one- and 2-year survival analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to report 2-year survival outcomes for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma using transoral robotic-assisted resection.
  
  
  METHODS
  prospective case study.
  
  
  METHODS
  two tertiary care centers.
  
  
  METHODS
  eighty-nine patients from 2 tertiary care centers (University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota) with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma of all stages and subsites, who underwent transoral robotic-assisted resection between March 2007 and December 2008, with a median follow-up time of 26 months.
  
  
  METHODS
  disease-free survival, cancer recurrence, and gastrostomy tube dependence
  
  
  RESULTS
  seventy-one patients had T1 (n = 29) or T2 (n = 42) tumors while 18 patients had T3 (n = 8) or T4 (n = 10) tumors. There were 24 patients with overall stage I or II disease and 65 with stage III or IV disease. At the time of the last follow-up visit (median, 26 months), there had been a total of 11 patients with recurrent cancer: 3 with local; 7, regional (2 of whom also had distant metastases); and 1, distant. Seven patients were treated for recurrent disease. Eighty-two patients had no evidence of disease, 1 patient died of the disease, 2 died of other disease, and 4 were alive with disease at the last follow-up visit. Results of Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the 2-year recurrence-free survival rate for the cohort was 86.5%. None of the patients were gastrostomy tube dependent at the last follow-up visit.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  the 2-year functional and oncologic results justify the continued treatment of select patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with robotic-assisted surgical resection.
authors.affiliation: Division of Otolaryngology, Department of Surgery, University of Alabama School of Medicine, BDB Ste 563, 1530 Third Ave S, Birmingham, AL 35294-0012, USA.
authors.forename: Hilliary N
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Eben L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Carroll
authors.forename: Kerry D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: Reneé A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Desmond
authors.forename: J Scott
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Magnuson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000407:Alabama / Q000453:epidemiology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D008910:Minnesota / Q000453:epidemiology; D009055:Mouth; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012371:Robotics / Q000379:methods*; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D013997:Time Factors