Trends and perspectives in minimally invasive surgery in otorhinolaryngology head and neck surgery

The roots of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (ORL-HNS) can be traced to the 1950s. Today, endonasal sinus surgery and endolaryngeal surgery already fulfill the principles of MIS. To widen its spectrum of indications, however, MIS must be able to offer three advantages that conventional macrosurgery and microsurgery already have: free maneuverability for the instrument, sensory feedback, and three-dimensional imaging. Every anatomical region (e.g., paranasal sinuses, upper aerodigestive tract, cerebellopontine angle) requires specific surgical instrumentation. Here, the authors present recently developed steerable instruments that allow two additional degrees of freedom not attainable with conventional instruments. These instruments may permit access to problem zones (e.g., laterally extending frontal and ethmoidal sinus recesses) in the near future. For better control of the instrument and the operative procedure, tactile feedback can be achieved with appropriate microsensor systems. Three-dimensional vision can be realized by three-dimensional video-endoscopes and sequential image processing.