AB080. Transoral robotic surgery: the Irish experience

Background: In December 2018, the DaVinci Robot was made available to the ENT service in St Vincent’s Hospital and subsequently the Mater Hospital. It has many applications in head and neck surgery and we present a case series of the diverse range of procedures we have performed to date.

Methods: A prospective case series and video demonstration will be shown highlighting the use of this novel technology in the investigation and treatment of head and neck cancer. The patient characteristics, presentation, tumour characteristics, radiological staging and type of surgery. In cancer of unknown origin, the primary outcome was whether or not the tumour of origin could be identified. Secondary outcomes included complications, such as bleeding, any further interventions required to identify the primary lesion and the resultant treatment following on from their transoral robotic surgery (TORS).

Results: Over 30 TORS procedures have been performed, both for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. The diagnostic rate for TORS tongue base mucosectomy was approximately 60%.

Conclusions: In our unit, the early results show that TORS is highly efficacious in both the investigation and treatment of head and neck cancer. It offers new and exciting alternatives to our patients who often require complex multimodal therapy. Further research with increased number of patients and longer term follow up is required to fully assess and establish the role of TORS.

Keywords: Cancer; head and neck; robotic surgery