February 14 2020
A significant number of oropharyngeal tumours are in difficult to reach places and have conservatively been operated on by splitting the lower jaw and prizing the two parts apart (a bit of an oversimplification here, but humour me). As you can imagine this causes much post operative pain and disfigurement and results in longer recovery and convalescent times. Transoral Robotic Surgery TORS uses a machine operated by the surgeon to reach where hands cannot through the open mouth. Recovery is swift and morbidity low. Surgery by surgeon operated robot is not new and has been available in some centres for a number of years now, but only in a selective number. It’s expensive and needs training but in some aspects it is more accurate than a human clinician’s “naked begloved fingers”. Cardiff University has a Da Vinci robot which has been used for prostate surgery for five years now and today there was a piece on the BBC News to announce that they are making it available for Head and Neck cancer patients. This is brilliant news and something to celebrate.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-51460215
