Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) has gained acceptance for treating a variety of head and neck benign and malignant pathologies. Some TORS advantages are great 3D visualization, shorter operative times, increased range of movement in narrow spaces, getting a complete pathological specimen, and improved life quality (LQ), resulting in well-validated functionality and oncological outcomes. This is a retrospective case series of patients treated with TORS between 2013 and 2019. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative variables were collected. Descriptive statistics were used to report medians and ranges for continuous variables. The number of cases and percentages were used to describe categorical variables. Fifteen patients have been treated for oncological pathologies with TORS in two Colombian health centers. Lateral oropharyngectomy was the most common surgery comprising 80% of surgeries. Three patients receiving this surgery also had one tongue base resection, one soft palate resection, and one retromolar trigone resection. Bilateral lingual and palatine tonsillectomy was performed in 13.3% of patients and supraglottic laryngectomy in 6.7%. Twelve patients (80%) had secondary wound healing, and three (20%) needed free flap reconstruction. After reviewing these initial experiences, we concluded that TORS is a versatile procedure for resection of tumor located in the oropharynx, supraglottis, and retromolar trigone. TORS is also useful for the reconstruction of subsequent defects with free flaps. We believed that some practical considerations must be published to help head and neck surgeons during the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative stages. Keywords Robotics . Head and neck neoplasms . Oropharyngeal neoplasms . Margins of excision This article is part of the Topical Collection on Surgery

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Introducción: Los tumores quísticos del cuello son inusuales en los adultos. Sin embargo, se pueden encontrar metástasis a ganglios, quistes branquiales, quistes tiroglosos, linfangiomas, entre otros. Clínicamente, estos últimos son masas blandas de crecimiento lento que se localizan en diferentes espacios del cuello.Reporte de caso: Se reporta un caso de linfangioma en una mujer de 36 años, quien consultó por masa lateral derecha del cuello con evolución de 20 días sin síntomas sistémicos asociados. A pesar de que la recaída es frecuente, la paciente fue tratada con cirugía exitosa sin evidencia de recidiva durante 12 meses de seguimiento.  Discusión: Cuando se presentan en niños, los tumores quísticos del cuello se pueden convertir en urgencias quirúrgicas debido a obstrucción de la vía aérea; no obstante, en los adultos solo producen deformidad de contorno y rara vez requieren una intervención apremiante, lo que permite conductas conservadoras como la observación, el drenaje repetido o la escleroterapia. Esta última puede hacerse con el OK-432 (Picibanil); sin embargo, la cirugía es una buena opción de tratamiento sin estar exenta de complicaciones.Conclusión: Se realizó revisión de las diferentes opciones de tratamiento y se concluyó que la resección quirúrgica de los linfagiomas continúa siendo la opción más adecuada para el manejo de esta compleja lesión del cuello.

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Hyperparathyroidism and concurrent thyroid nodular disease are prominent. In contrast, concomitant papillary thyroid cancer and hyperparathyroidism are uncommon (1%–2%). Parathyroid adenomas in unusual locations are difficult to detect by conventional diagnostic imaging. 99m Tc-sestamibi single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) has increased the localizing success rate of these lesions since it provides specific functional and anatomical information, improving exploratory parathyroid surgery planning and decreasing operative time, unnecessary dissections, complications, and morbidity. We confirmed its usefulness in a patient with an occult parathyroid adenoma that was clearly identified by 99m Tc-sestamibi SPECT/CT 2 weeks after a thyroidectomy for papillary carcinoma. The SPECT/CT results allowed us to successfully perform efficient reexploration of the thyroid bed, in a retroesophageal parathyroid adenoma by minimally invasive surgery.

Introduction Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) has increased incidence. Intermediate- and high-risk patients have lymph node relapse rate ranging from 10 to 50%, and receive multiple reinterventions, increasing the morbidity of the disease. Currently, there are no established guidelines for the use of second radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy after the reintervention for local recurrence. Materials and Methods This is a retrospective review of the medical records of 1,299 patients treated from January 2016 to July 2019 with DTC. We included 48 patients who received total thyroidectomy, RAI remnant ablation, surgery to remove the locally recurrent/persistent papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), and received a second RAI therapy. Results There were no significant differences between thyroglobulin (Tg) levels before reoperation (Tg0), Tg levels postoperatively (Tg1), and Tg levels after 6 months of second adjuvant RAI therapy (Tg2). However, we evidenced a 69.79% drop in first Tg levels (Tg0: 24.7 vs. Tg1: 7.56, p=0.851) and 44.4% decrease in second Tg levels (Tg1: 7.56 vs. Tg2: 4.20, p=0.544). Also, 77.1% of the patients did not have another documented recurrence. The median relapse-free time was 10.9 months (range: 1.3–58.2 months). Conclusion The results of the study cannot assess that a second RAI treatment after reoperation for locoregionally persistent or recurrent disease have a significant impact on treatment outcomes in intermediate- or high-risk patients with PTC. However, the 77.1% of patients have not presented a second documented recurrence and the median values of Tg and TgAb levels showed a substantial decrease after surgery and second RAI treatment.

Background: Carcinoma ex-pleomorphic adenoma (Ca ex-PA) comprises 0.5% of head and neck neoplasms. Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) is an approach being used to treat a variety of benign and malignant head and neck neoplasms. Recently, this technique has gained popularity as an alternative for parapharyngeal space (PPS) tumor resection. To our knowledge, this is the first case of Ca ex-PA managed successfully by TORS of the PPS.Case: Fifty-nine-year-old male with incidental mass in PPS, initial diagnosis of pleomorphic adenoma, who underwent transoral robotic resection. The histopathology diagnosis with minimally invasive Ca ex-PA findings and malignant component of high-grade epithelial/myoepithelial carcinoma and salivary duct carcinoma. Patient discharged on the fifth post-operative day without complications. Conclusion:Based on our findings, TORS may be a safe procedure to remove selected Ca ex-PA from the PPS; however, further research is needed.

The primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is a result of high levels of parathyroid hormone and serum calcium, the most frequent cause is a solitary parathyroid adenoma. Double parathyroid adenoma is <5% of the PHPT. Intrathyroidal parathyroid adenoma (IPA) occurs< 3.2%. We present a case of 58-year-old female with persistent primary hyperparathyroidism due to a second undetected IPA, suspected by ultrasound and confirmed by 99m Tc sestamibi single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography.