Functional conservation surgery In the past, the treatment of head and neck malignancies emphasized radical surgery, aiming to improve the survival rate of patients. Conservative surgery, which began in the 1950s, has evolved in the last two decades with the application of comprehensive treatment. More and more oncologic surgeons are realizing the importance of improving the quality of patient survival without compromising the cure rate. As a result, organ function preservation surgery has evolved significantly over the years, mainly in the treatment of laryngeal, oral cavity and pharyngeal tumors. The main forms of treatment used include microwave therapy, partial resection with preservation of organ function and minimally invasive surgery. Microwave is a kind of electromagnetic wave, research shows that it produces high temperature can cause irreversible damage to malignant tumor cells in the coagulation area, through the 10mm-100mm long inserted coaxial antenna, and right angle adapter, to facilitate the thermal effect from different directions and angles to make tumor tissue coagulation, necrosis, to achieve both the treatment of tumor and preservation of function and facial appearance. Zeng Zongyuan et al. compared the efficacy of two treatment methods, surgery and microwave curing, for the treatment of floor of mouth cancer, and found that microwave curing for floor of mouth cancer has the same survival rate and local area control rate as traditional hand, but it is significantly better than the surgery group in preserving oral function and appearance. The author’s unit is tentatively experimenting with microcombined endoscopic treatment of deep head and neck (nasopharynx, paranasal sinuses, etc.) tumors, and this treatment modality has achieved satisfactory results in the treatment of tumors in other parts of the body The evolution of surgical treatment techniques for laryngeal cancer can be used as a microcosm of the development of surgical treatment techniques for head and neck tumors, and the general trend is to preserve the normal physiological functions of the organ as much as possible without affecting the local control rate and 5-year survival rate. The surgical approach for laryngeal cancer has changed from total laryngectomy to hemilaryngectomy, partial laryngectomy and local tumor resection. Wang Tianduo reported that partial laryngectomy increased from 14% in the 1940s to 85% in the 1980s, and its 5-year survival rate was 70%-84% for partial laryngectomy and 53%-63% for total laryngectomy, which showed that the survival rate of patients was not reduced by partial laryngectomy. Partial laryngectomy with preservation of the vocal cords allows the patient to retain vocal function, whereas vertical hemilaryngectomy often requires organ or functional reconstruction to restore vocal function. For patients with locally advanced disease, partial laryngectomy on the arytenoid cartilage can be used. This procedure can restore the patient’s voice, swallowing and respiratory functions without a permanent organ stoma, thus improving the quality of survival. For laryngopharyngeal tumors the author’s unit uses unilateral pear fossa resection, partial hypopharyngeal and vertical hemilaryngeal, pear fossa and ipsilateral supraglottic partial laryngectomy to preserve laryngeal function on the basis of comprehensive treatment. The overall 5-year survival rate of patients did not decrease due to partial organ removal, and 63.64% of patients had complete laryngeal function (articulation, breathing and swallowing) preserved, while 36.36% had partial laryngeal function (articulation and swallowing) preserved. Endoscopic surgery, as a major technical means of minimally invasive surgery, has penetrated into all fields of surgery, and compared with endoscopic surgery of the thyroid gland, endoscopic surgery of other parts of the neck is still at an early stage of exploration. Cougard_5 et al. recently investigated the endoscopic resection of 40 lesions less than 3 cm in diameter in the lateral lobes and isthmus of the thyroid gland and found that endoscopic lobectomy combined with ultrasound knife took 45 to 90 minutes for the entire procedure. The average hospital stay was only 1.75 days, and the patients were particularly satisfied with their appearance and short-term recovery at the three-month postoperative follow-up. However, every head and neck tumor surgeon should clearly understand that tumor is a systemic disease that requires multidisciplinary and multimodal therapeutic interventions. Surgery is one of the important means, but not the only means of treatment. As surgeons, they should not neglect or even disdain the role of other departments or treatments due to “professional bias”, which affects the survival rate and quality of life of patients. After nearly half a century of experience and lessons learned from both successes and failures, head and neck tumors tend to be operated conservatively under the premise of comprehensive treatment plan, and no longer blindly pursue enlargement of resection, but adopt appropriate treatment methods to preserve organ functions according to the biological behavior and anatomical sites of tumors, reasonably reduce the scope of surgery, reduce surgical trauma, and repair and reconstruct when necessary. In order to preserve the function of the organism and improve the quality of life to the greatest extent possible, we should adopt appropriate treatment methods to preserve the function of the organ according to the biological behavior and anatomical location of the tumor, reasonably reduce the scope of surgery, reduce the surgical injury, and repair and reconstruct when necessary.