Abstract:
A series of two-page advertisements have appeared
in the September and November 2016 issues of the SAMJ, entitled
‘da Vinci Transoral Robotic Surgery (TORS) is a minimally invasive
alternative to open surgery and full-dose chemoradiation therapy for
diseases of the head and neck’. As these advertisements go beyond
simply marketing surgical equipment, but seek to influence patients,
referring doctors, oncologists and head and neck surgeons on how to
treat cancers of the head and neck and sleep apnoea, we have taken
the unusual step of writing to the editor of the SAMJ to correct some
misconceptions in the advertisement.
