Objective: To investigate the indication, feasibility, and safety of da Vinci robotic surgical system in pharyngolaryngeal
tumor resection. Methods: Thirty patients were diagnosed with pharyngolaryngeal
tumors and treated with a transoral robotic surgery (TORS) in Beijing Anzhen Hospital from June 1, 2016 through November 30, 2017. Inclusion criteria included lesions of the oropharynx (n=13), parapharyngeal space (n=7), larynx (n=6) and hypopharynx (n=4). Twenty cases were males and ten cases were females. The median age was 56 years old (ranging from 30 to 81 years). Results: The robotic surgeries were performed successfully on 30 patients. One patient (3.3%) underwent TORS combined with a neck incision. The mean
operative time was 40.7 min. The mean blood loss was 15.8 ml. The mean recovery time for oral intake was 5.3 days. The mean
hospital stay was 9 days. None of the patients underwent
tracheotomy or mandible split. Postoperative pathological examination showed that 18 cases (60.0%) were malignant and 1 case (5.6%) had
positive surgical margin. Sixteen cases received
neck dissection. No serious complications occurred during or after the operation. There was no local recurrence,
metastasis or death except for regional recurrences in 2 cases (11.1%) with a follow-up of 1 to 18 months(median 13 months). Conclusion: Transoral robotic surgery is a feasible, safe and effective
surgical procedure with clear operation field, rapid surgical access,
minimally invasive surgery, lesser
hemorrhage, good cosmetic effect and fast recovery.