Robot-assisted surgery appears feasible for treatment of selected head and neck cancers. Since the introduction of the surgical robot in 1999, robot-assisted cardiac, gynecologic and urologic procedures have become widely accepted. In these specialties, robotic procedures have been associated with less blood loss, fewer complications, shorter surgery durations and fewer days in the hospital or in intensive care compared with traditional open procedures. Robotic surgery in the head and neck offers the possibility of limited surgical morbidity, reduced hospital stay and improved lesion visualization over open approaches and traditional transoral techniques.

Bridget A Boudreaux, and colleagues at the University of Alabama at Birmingham assessed the feasibility and safety of robot-assisted surgery in 36 patients with cancers involving the oral cavity, throat or larynx.
In the period 2007-2008, 29 ( 81% ) of the patients underwent successful robotic resection, or removal of the diseased tissue. The operating room was arranged with the surgeon's console, from which he or she operated the robotic arms that held the surgical equipment, approximately eight feet from the head of the bed.

Negative margins ( when no cancer cells are found at the edge or border of the removed tissue ) were obtained in all 29 patients who successfully completed surgery. Of those, 21 had breathing tubes that had been in place during surgery safely removed before leaving the operating room. The average operating time was 99 minutes, and the average hospital stay was 2.9 days.

The surgical robot has several advantages over traditional endoscopic and open approaches, including three-dimensional visualization, tremor filtration and greater freedom of instrument movement.

Patients who had smaller tumors and no teeth appeared more likely to have successful robot-assisted procedures. However, no clinical guidelines for robotic procedures in head and neck cancer patients yet exist, the authors note.

This clinical series demonstrates that robotic surgery can be utilized successfully in patients with T1 to T4 lesions located in the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx and larynx with good preservation of swallow function.
This study does not confirm oncologic or functional superiority to any standard method of treatment.
Further studies are needed to define the indications, advantages, limitations and outcomes of robotic surgery for head and neck applications.

Source: Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, 2009

XagenaMedicine2009


Link: Xapedia - Medical Encyclopedia