Editorial

Prof. Dr. Dr. H.-J. Welkoborsky

Dear Colleagues,

it is a pleasure for me to present this book publishing the main scientific contributions at the occasion of the Annual Meeting of our Society in 2022. The motto of this annual meeting that will take place in Hannover from May 25^th to 28^th is “Interface – Focus on human individual in the age of high tech medicine and technology”. After two years of pandemic with cancellation of the 91st Annual Meeting and merging with the 92nd Annual Meeting as only digital conference, this will be again the first meeting with physical presence of the participants. The motto of the meeting was not chosen at random. Just think of the numerous technological innovations in the head and neck discipline that are highly beneficial for our patients.

The scientific contributions reported in here were written under the headline of “Bioimplants – interdisciplinary aspects” and thus reflect the significant interdisciplinarity of our discipline. In particular bioimplants are understood as enormous technical progress to improve or even eliminate numerous impairments. In this context, the rehabilitation of patients suffering from hearing impairments are a field that directly concerns the discipline of oto-rhino-laryngology. S. Lailach et al. report about the outcomes of implantation of active middle ear implants, especially with regard to the patients’ quality of life. T. Lenarz et al. present the current concept and the therapy results of cochlear implantation and report about the impact on the quality of life. Research on the development of retinal chips and other possibilities of artificial vision has been performed for many years so that patients may achieve a certain level of vision after becoming blind. This research and the current state are reported by P. Walter from Aachen. CAD made individual implants are particularly suitable for reconstruction for example of the midface after traumas with substance loss or after tumor surgeries. The concepts developed by N.C. Gellrich and colleagues describe the currently most innovative possibilities of reconstructing the midface. In his state-of-the-art presentation, A. Steffen illustrates the state of research and clinical implementation of the hypoglossus nerve stimulator that clearly alleviates the complaints of our patients suffering from OSAS and CPAP intolerance. His contributions comprehensively discusses the patient benefit of this procedure. In oto-rhino-larygnology, vagus nerve stimulation is only a marginal field. In the context of refractory epilepsy, the indication for vagus nerve stimulator implantation is made by neurologists so that head and neck surgeons play a role as service providers for performing the surgery itself. H. Möbius et al. present the physiological basics as well as the technique and the surgical procedure and discuss their impact on the quality of life. A very promising treatment approach for individual patients is the implantation of passive bioimplants in cases of vocal fold paralysis and – increasingly in the focus of research of the last years – the implantation of active bioimplants for restoration of vocal fold mobility. A. Müller from Gera gives an overview about the state of research and the clinical application of this innovative treatment.

With the bioimplants that are available today, the technical development has not yet reached a final state; quite the contrary: We are currently at the beginning of a second innovation wave with robotics and the introduction of assistance systems in operating rooms and our patients will enormously benefit from always safer, minimally invasive, and highly precise surgeries. Therefore, robotics in the operating room are in the focus of two further contributions: T. Hussain from Essen discussed if patients benefit from the implementation of robotic surgeries. He describes the examples of tumor surgeries and compares the results of robot-assisted surgery with conventional microsurgical laser application. Sadeghian et al. from Munich venture a glimpse into the future asking the question if networking intelligent machines will be possible in medicine. They discuss the obvious question of human-machine interaction and how it will probably be like in the future.

The scientific contributions also show that the focus of all these developments is placed on the human individual whose diseases have to be healed, cured or at least alleviated. With all technological progress, the patients are not only technical objects and physicians are not only molecular biologists or engineers. The physicians with their experience, expertise, skills, and empathy will remain the central contact for the patients, the focus of the patients, and the contact persons regarding all health-related questions. In this way, the motto of our Annual Meeting should be understood: Human individuals are in the focus of medicine, not only from the physicians’ but also from the patients’ point of view.

I hope that you enjoy reading the book containing the scientific contributions and I thank the authors for their extraordinary work and contributions.

With best wishes,

Prof. Dr. Dr. H.-J. Welkoborsky

President of the German Society of

Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head & Neck Surgery

Publication History

Article published online:
23 May 2022