Editorial Referateband 2019

Dear Colleagues,

it is an extraordinary pleasure for me to present this really interesting booklet that was created at the occasion of the 90^th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head & Neck Surgery. The highly significant scientific contributions from nine universities discuss different aspects of the meeting’s motto entitled “Digitization in Oto-Rhino-Laryngology” and show important fields for developing and securing the future of our discipline.

During the last years, digitization and artificial intelligence gain increasingly in importance for the German healthcare landscape and thus also for the field of oto-rhino-laryngology. With regard to future developments in healthcare services it is essential to impart digital competences to physicians, medical staff, but also to patients in a well-structured way. At the same time, the legal and ethical issues resulting from medical-technological progresses have to be thoroughly discussed.