[Laser surgery of head and neck lesions at the National Institute of Oncology, Budapest].

In spite of the continued expansion of non-surgical therapeutic modalities surgery still plays an important role in the treatment of head and neck cancer. Parallel with the use of conventional approaches, more sophisticated surgical approaches, like the use of laser in oncologic surgery, appeared with a more favorable outcome. Laser is a precise surgical tool, particularly when coupled to an operating microscope (with a variable spot size micromanipulator), allowing microprecision and hemostatic ability. The benefits of the use of laser are: bloodless operation field, high hit probability, "no touch" technique, ablasticity, support of tissue repair, and the lack of edema and scar formation. Between 1981 and 2008, 7934 surgical procedures were performed at the Department of Head and Neck Surgery, National Institute of Oncology, Budapest, Hungary. The aim is to present our results and experience with laser surgery of cutaneous lesions of the head and neck, oral, pharyngeal and laryngeal pathologies including cases of laryngotracheal stenosis.