Precise surgery leads to faster recovery.
Robot-assisted transoral surgery makes mouth and throat cancer treatment more effective with fewer side effects.
With cancers of the head and neck on the rise, doctors are looking for improved ways to remove and treat the cancer. By using robotic, minimally invasive surgical techniques first developed for other parts of the body, they are doing just that.
Head and neck cancer facts:
- 75,000 new cases expected this year
- 2X as common in men as in women
Top causes
- HPV Virus
- Tobacco
- Alcohol
Studies show improved quality of life after transoral surgery.
Research comparing the outcomes of robot-assisted transoral surgery with those of traditional surgery found that transoral surgery patients:
- Reported less pain
- Were more likely to be able to speak normally
- Many patients are eating or drinking within hours of the operation.
Shorter hospital stay
Robot-assisted transoral surgery 2.3 days
Open surgery 7-10 days
Mouth and throat cancers are hard to reach.
Traditional surgery for cancers in the mouth, throat and neck requires large incisions and can affect the ability to speak and swallow. It has a long recovery time and leaves significant scarring.
Using surgical robots that have tiny, precisely controlled surgical tools, doctors can now perform transoral (through the mouth) surgery on the tongue, tonsils and even the throat and vocal cords while leaving surrounding tissue undisturbed.
98% of robot-assisted transoral surgery results in complete removal of the cancerous cells.
Reduced chance of side effect
Robot-assisted transoral surgery: Often no radiation or chemotherapy needed
Open surgery: Typically 7 weeks of chemotherapy/radiation before surgery
Sources: mayoclinic.org; cancer.org; cancer.gov; ncbi.nlm.nih.gov