Mayo Clinic Successfully Tests Transoral Robotic Surgery for Treatment of Throat Cancer
According to a new study by the Mayo Clinic, transoral robotic surgery can now be safely used to treat certain cancers in the throat. Researchers found that transoral robots offer profound advantages for effective treatment of the tonsils and tongue and allow patients to recover more quickly.
Robotic medical equipment is nothing new, but it seems like medical equipment manufacturers are discovering new applications for this technology every day. In the case of traditional tongue and tonsil cancer surgery, complications during the procedure and the recurrence of tumors have been a challenge for surgeons. However, when using a transoral robot for surgery, patients in this study experienced no major complications, and none of their tumors returned. They were also able to swallow on their own much sooner, resulting in shorter hospital stays.
One of the study authors is Dr. Eric Moore, a head and neck surgeon from the Mayo Clinic. He and his team performed 45 surgeries using this new transoral robotic medical equipment. They were able to cut down the average hospital stay from 10 days to 2.3 days. In addition, they were able to dramatically reduce the amount of time a typical patient must use feeding tubes after surgery. With transoral robotic surgery, feeding tubes were removed in a week to 10 days, where the average patient getting traditional surgery would have needed them for two to three months.
With results like these, transoral robotic surgery is expected to become a more commonly used technique for removing cancerous tumors from the throat. Expect to see many medical equipment suppliers stepping in to serve this need.
