Copyright
©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Otorhinolaryngol. May 28, 2016; 6(2): 41-44
Published online May 28, 2016. doi: 10.5319/wjo.v6.i2.41
Published online May 28, 2016. doi: 10.5319/wjo.v6.i2.41
Use of Holmium:Yag laser in early stage oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer
Jagdeep S Virk, Mike Dilkes, Department of Head and Neck ENT, Barts and Royal London Hospitals, London E1 1BB, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Virk JS drafted the manuscript and performed literature searches; Dilkes M performed, collated and analysed all data.
Institutional review board statement: This study was registered with the clinical governance and ethics team. This study was approved and ratified by the ethics board.
Informed consent statement: All patients agreed to undergo this surgery after a multi-step consent process in keeping with GMC guidelines (United Kingdom).
Conflict-of-interest statement: We have no financial relationships to disclose.
Data sharing statement: There is no further data to share.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Jagdeep S Virk, MA, MRCS, DOHNS, E, Department of Head and Neck ENT, Barts and Royal London Hospitals, Whitechapel Road, Whitechapel, London E1 1BB, United Kingdom. j_v1rk@hotmail.com
Fax: +44-203-8452964
Received: December 1, 2015
Peer-review started: December 1, 2015
First decision: January 15, 2016
Revised: January 16, 2016
Accepted: March 9, 2016
Article in press: March 14, 2016
Published online: May 28, 2016
Processing time: 161 Days and 8.4 Hours
Peer-review started: December 1, 2015
First decision: January 15, 2016
Revised: January 16, 2016
Accepted: March 9, 2016
Article in press: March 14, 2016
Published online: May 28, 2016
Processing time: 161 Days and 8.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma is increasing in incidence. Management is controversial due to the large human papillomavirus cohort. The gold standard remains single modality therapy for early stage disease, either primary surgery or radiotherapy. Laser resection is one of the viable surgical options. We present a series of patients treated with Holmium:Yag laser resection. Holmium:Yag lasers are a safe and effective treatment for Stage 1 and 2 squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx, excluding the tongue base. Its uses could be extended within the speciality and elsewhere, particularly with a robotic arm.