Initial Experience with Robotic Diverticulectomy via a Retroauricular Approach for Zenker’s Diverticulum

Excerpt

Zenker’s diverticulum (ZD) is an outpouching of the mucosa through the weakened hypopharyngeal wall. Currently, transoral endoscopic management is considered the first-choice treatment for ZD. However, the transoral endoscopic approach occasionally results in incomplete myotomy intraoperatively and then the persistence of symptoms or recurrence of lesions postoperatively due to insufficient surgical field especially, in patients with poor mouth opening, short necks, or large-sized diverticulum. Recently, we successfully performed a robotic diverticulectomy via a retroauricular approach in patients who failed or were not candidates for endoscopic management for the first time and introduced a new technique in this study. …