[Transoral coblation-assisted endoscopic minimally invasive surgery for superficial tongue base tumours]

Objective: To introduce the method of transoral coblation-assisted endoscopic minimally invasive surgery for superficial tongue base tumour. Methods: A total of 15 patients treated with transoral coblation-assisted endoscopic minimally invasive surgery from Mar. 2006 to Aug. 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. There were 9 patients with malignant tumors, 6 patients with benign neoplasms. Adjuvant postoperative radiation therapy was applied in three cases of squamous cell carcinoma, neck was performed in four cases of cancer. One case of non-Hodgkin lymphoma received postoperative chemotherapy. Results: One case with ectopic thyroid gland was treated by subtotal resection and one case with squamous cell carcinoma changed into open surgery because of major lingual artery bleeding. The En bloc resection under edoscope was achieved in 92.86%(13/14)of patients. Fifteen cases of neoplasms were followed-up for 8-50 months(median 20 months), one patient with Cowden syndrome was lost to follow-up because of appendical carcinoid combined pulmonary metastasis, one patient with non-Hodgkin lymphoma died of recurrence in other head neck areas 2 years after chemotherapy. Conclusion: Transoral coblation-assisted endoscopic surgery can successfully treat for the patients with superficial tongue base tumours.