Case Series of Endoscopic Transoral Excision of Huge Parapharyngeal Tumors: Pushing the Boundaries

Abstract

Endoscopic transoral excision of parapharyngeal space (PPS) tumors is often condemned for its many limitations. We revisit this approach and aim to introduce some updated perspectives following the advancement of endoscopic instrumentation, robotic transoral surgery, and radical tonsillectomy. We illustrate the techniques that were deployed for six patients with huge benign PPS tumors originating from the pre-styloid compartment at our center. Only patients who had a tumor size of five cm or larger were included in this study. We summarized our patients’ outcomes, the important considerations, and the advantages and disadvantages of this approach. With accurate selection and surgical strategy, all our patients had good clinical outcomes. We demonstrated that even larger tumors can be safely removed endoscopically. Surely, this approach will gain traction, and better-designed studies should be conducted in the future to assess its credibility.

Keywords

• parapharyngeal space
• neoplasm
• endoscopy
• surgery
• case report