Residency Program

Sub-Specialty Training in OTOHNS

Head and Neck Surgery/Skull Base Surgery

The Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Kansas has an active program in Head and Neck Surgery and Skull Base Surgery, whose patient accruement area includes all of Kansas and part of western Missouri. All patients are presented prospectively at the multidisciplinary, bi-weekly Head and Neck Surgery Tumor Board in order to obtain a consensus opinion on treatment. A multidisciplinary Thyroid Tumor Board is held monthly to discuss new thyroid malignancy patients.

With microvascular reconstruction expertise within the OTOHNS, head and neck oncologic procedures are performed concurrently with reconstructive procedures; thereby shortening patients’ anesthetic time and increasing Operating Room efficiency. Training in transfacial and endoscopic surgical approaches to the skull base, endoscopic diverticulectomy, and minimally invasive thyroid/parathyroid surgery is also extensive. This experience at KUMC is supplemented by extensive head and neck experience at Veterans Administration Medical Center and Truman Medical Center and staffed by the same faculty.

The Skull Base Surgery Team works closely with the Head and Neck Surgery Reconstruction Team, as well as with faculty in the Departments of Neurosurgery and Ophthalmology, to provide surgical treatment to anterior, middle, and posterior fossa neoplasms. An active Interventional Radiology division also provides angiographic and endovascular procedure support to the Skull Base Surgery Team. This is supplemented by extensive intra-operative experience with the Xomed Evolution stereotactic surgical guidance system.