Oncological and functional outcomes of transoral robotic surgery for oropharyngeal cancer

In this prospective study we analysed the oncological and functional results of transoral robotic surgery (TORS) to find out if it was suitable as a minimally invasive treatment for oropharyngeal cancer. Between April 2008 and September 2011, 39 patients with oropharyngeal cancer were treated by TORS. We assessed overall and disease-free survival by the Kaplan-Meier test, and we used videopharyngography and the functional outcome swallowing scale (FOSS) to evaluate swallowing. We used nasometry to estimate hypernasality, and acoustic waveform analysis to evaluate the voice. Thirty-seven patients (95%) had histologically clear margins of resection. Overall survival at 2 years was 96% and disease-free survival 92%. An oral diet was tolerable after a mean of 6 (range 1-18) days. No serious swallowing difficulties were seen on the videopharyngogram. Thirty-six of 38 patients could swallow well (97%) with FOSS scores ranging from 0 to 2 (1 patient had a poor score but was able to take an oral diet after postural training). Voices were maintained close to the normal range on the acoustic waveform analysis. The oncological and functional results of TORS were quite acceptable for the treatment of oropharyngeal cancer. TORS is a valid treatment for selected patients with oropharyngeal cancer.