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Competing Interests: Interessenkonflikt: Urban Geisthoff erhielt ein Reisestipendium und ein Vortragshonorar von Cook Medical. Die Firmen Bess Medizintechnik GmbH (Berlin) und Cook Deutschland GmbH (Mönchengladbach) stellten Material und z.T. auch Personal (Bess) unterstützend zur Erstellung des Films kostenlos zur Verfügung.

When basic surgical principles are followed diagnostic salivary endoscopy is a relatively safe operative procedure. Therapeutic sialendoscopy uses such instrumentation as lasers, forceps, baskets, and balloons for endoductal fragmentation, retrieval, and dilatation. Based on experience acquired from more than 300 salivary endoscopy procedures and a review of the current literature, the most relevant operative techniques are presented.

Technical developments have taken place since the first endoscopes suitable for sialendoscopy appeared. Now, a variety of endoscopes are available. Ranging from rigid to flexible, each type has its own properties. Light sources, imaging, recording instrumentation, and other equipment used with the endoscopes facilitate or extend the range of their use. Experiences using different endoscopes in more than 300 endoscopies are discussed.

Background: Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia is characterized by angiodysplastic lesions. So far, knowledge is limited on the vascular architecture and rate of occult manifestation of telangiectases. Contact endoscopy has not been used for this task before., Methods: Eleven patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia were examined with contact endoscopy to identify occult telangiectases. Sixty enoral telangiectases were studied in detail to characterize their architecture., Results: No occult telangiectases could be detected. In most cases, telangiectases consisting of a simple dilated loop were small. In contrast, most of the complex telangiectases were larger., Conclusions: Visually normal areas in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia did not seem to have abnormal vascularization. Simple dilated capillary loops might be precursors of telangiectases with a more complex structure. Contact endoscopy seems to be a promising tool for the in vivo monitoring of therapies and the natural course of vascular disorders in humans and in animal models., ((c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 27: XXX-XXX, 2005.)