[Transoral Robotic Surgery for Head and Neck Cancer]

Robotic surgery for head and neck cancer [transoral robotic surgery (TORS)] was covered by insurance in Japan in 2022. The number of hospitals performing this surgery is gradually increasing. The indications for TORS are Tis, T1, and T2, without extra nodal involvement of metastatic lymph nodes of oropharyngeal, hypopharyngeal, supraglottic carcinoma. In TORS, the important point is not only robotic manipulation technique, but also knowledge of pharyngeal inside-out anatomy, setting of retractor, docking of the robotic arm and instrument, and accurate evaluation of the extent of tumor invasion. The introduction of single-port robot might affect the expansion of surgical indications for TORS.