Preliminary experience in transoral laryngeal surgery with a flexible robotic system for benign lesions of the vocal folds

Abstract

Purpose

This purpose of this case series is to present the first four cases utilizing micro-phonosurgical instrumentation designed specifically for use with a semi-flexible 'robotic' system—the Medrobotics Flex system and to evaluate the accessibility and feasibility of this platform in the context of transoral robotic surgery (TORS) for laryngeal surgery.

Methods

Four patients (3 female, 1 male; age range 49–79 years) were operated by the senior author at CHL—a tertiary hospital centre between 2016 and 2017. The 'robot' was deployed in all cases to assess its accessibility and ability to perform surgery in the larynx.

Results

All four patients were successfully treated using the system along with newly developed instrumentation specifically focused on phonosurgery.

Conclusion

This series has demonstrated accessibility and ability for laryngeal surgery using a novel semi-rigid operator-controlled 'robotic' system. We encountered no device failures and were able to perform all the selected cases uneventfully.

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