Robotic Ear Nose and Throat Surgery

Robotic-assisted surgery has transformed how many operations are performed, and its benefits are well-known: Smaller or no incisions. Less discomfort after surgery. And a quicker recovery than conventional “open” surgery. Ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgeons at Hackensack University Medical Center have pioneered the use of robotic surgery to perform delicate operations of the mouth, nasal cavities, sinuses, larynx (voice box and vocal cords), and trachea (windpipe). Now they have taken the technology even further by becoming one of the first dozen hospitals in the country and the first in New Jersey to offer single-port robotic surgery for ENT operations.

About Single-Port Robotic Surgery
Conventional robotic surgical systems have multiple rigid arms, requiring the skills of an assistant to insert the arms into the patient. Three of the arms contain surgical instruments and one contains a camera.

The mouth and throat, however, are narrow areas and contain curves and tight spaces, making the use of traditional robotic systems challenging. Hackensack University Medical Center’s ENT surgeons now use the da Vinci SP^® robotic surgical system to perform single-port “transoral robotic surgery” (TORS). What does this mean for you, the patient?

• Only one port. The da Vinci SP system has a single tube (cannula) through which ALL of the instruments can be deployed. The three instruments and the camera emerge from the tip of the cannula, and the surgeon controls all of them with full dexterity while sitting at a console.
• Flexibility. The surgeon inserts the cannula through your mouth and advances it into the area to be operated upon. The head of the cannula is flexible and snakelike, enabling the surgeon to twist and turn it in whatever way is needed to navigate the instruments around the curves of human anatomy and into the surgical area.