Transoral Robotic Surgery (TORS) in Laryngeal and Hypopharyngeal Cancer

Abstract Objectives: The current trend in managing laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer is to perform organ preservation therapy, which improves quality of life and decreases treatment-related morbidity. Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) can overcome the limit of “line of sight” often met in classic transoral procedure. We utilized a robotic surgical system to evaluate the feasibility and oncologic safety of transoral partial pharyngectomy and laryngectomy. Materials and Methods: TORS was performed by using a “da Vinci surgical robot” (Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA). An FK retractor (Gyrus Medical Inc., Maple Grove, MN) was used to expose the cancerous lesion transorally, and an endoscopic arm was introduced through the oral cavity with two instrument arms placed 30 degrees apart from the endoscopic arm. We performed TORS on 1 patient with pyriform sinus carcinoma and 4 patients with glottic carcinoma as a prospective human trial. Results: Average surgical time measured was 39 minutes, including a...