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The aim of the present study is to summarize the current evidence published in the literature concerning the role of transoral robotic surgery in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Recently, in order to reduce the side-effects related to chemo-radiotherapy, the use of transoral robotic surgery has increased especially for oropharyngeal tumors related to HPV. Our review highlighted that, although the current evidence is not enough to clarify whether patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer treated with transoral robotic surgery have a better oncologic or functional outcome compared to those treated with radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy, transoral robotic surgery still showed good oncological outcomes. Also, in the future transoral robotic surgery could potentially represent a promising strategy for intensifying treatments in HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancer.

Minimally invasive surgical approaches to parotid stones (such as extra-corporeal shockwave lithotripsy and sialendoscopy) have proved to be effective in a high percentage of cases, although success depends on factors such as the localisation of the stone, its size and its mobility. The failure rate of 10% is largely due to large and impacted stones and, in such cases, a combined external and sialendoscopic approach can be used to avoid morbidity and the risks of more invasive superficial parotidectomy. We treated eight patients with large parotid stones (>7 mm) using a sialendoscopy-assisted transfacial surgical approach that was effective in all but one case, which was successfully solved by combining this procedure with extra-corporeal lithotripsy and operative sialendoscopy. Our results confirm that the combined approach is a valid alternative to parotidectomy for large parotid stones and should be added to other minimally invasive techniques aimed at restoring the function of the affected parotid gland.