title: Transoral robotic surgery versus conventional surgery in treatment for squamous cell carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of our work was to compare a group of patients undergoing transoral robotic surgery (TORS group) for squamous cell carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract and a matched group of patients undergoing conventional surgery (conventional surgery group) for the same indication.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this retrospective single-center study, 26 patients were included in each group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significantly fewer tracheotomies in the TORS group (p < .001). The mean durations of feeding by nasogastric tube and hospitalization were shorter for the TORS group (p = .001). There was no significant difference in disease-free survival at 3 years (p = .76). Mean treatment cost was $7124 lower for the TORS group (p = .03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This comparative study shows that robotic technology can be used to treat selected squamous cell carcinomas of the upper aerodigestive tract, reducing morbidity and treatment costs while providing equivalent cancer control at 3 years.
authors.affiliation: ENT Department, University François Rabelais.|CHRU Bretonneau, Tours Hospital, France.
authors.forename: Karim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hammoudi
authors.affiliation: CHRU Bretonneau, Tours Hospital, France.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pinlong
authors.affiliation: CHRU Bretonneau, Tours Hospital, France.
authors.forename: Soo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: ENT Department, University François Rabelais.|CHRU Bretonneau, Tours Hospital, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bakhos
authors.affiliation: ENT Department, University François Rabelais.|CHRU Bretonneau, Tours Hospital, France.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morinière
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009055:Mouth; D057605:Natural Orifice Endoscopic Surgery / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D061646:Operative Time; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D065287:Robotic Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D012371:Robotics; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: conventional surgery; minimally invasive surgery; squamous cell carcinoma; transoral robotic surgery; upper aerodigestive tract