New Delhi: Doctors at the VPS Lakeshore hospital in Kochi successfully conducted the first ever endo-robotic surgery on a 75-year-old woman. Robotic technology can play a significant role in reducing the morbidity of head and neck surgery. However, robots cannot be used for cancer below the voice box, because the robotic arms cannot reach below it.
But the doctors at the hospital came up with a new surgical method to solve this problem. Endo-robotic surgery is the name of the procedure in which the lower part of the head and neck cancer reaching the food pipe is removed using a combination of endoscopic surgery and robotic surgery.
The woman was diagnosed with cancer in the beginning of the food pipe (post-cricoid region). Initially, she took radiation treatment, but the cancer did not respond. Subsequently, a comprehensive examination revealed no signs of the disease elsewhere in the body. Typically, surgical removal of the voice box and food pipe is the course of action in this condition, followed by the reconstruction of the food passage using tissue from other parts of the body.
This surgery is known to pose significant challenges to the patient, including loss of the natural ability to speak and eat. The part of the cancer that the robot couldn’t reach within the food pipe was incised using a gastro endoscope, while the upper part was approached from the oral cavity using robotic surgery. The whole cancer-affected area was removed en bloc and intra operative pathology reports were used to confirm the completeness of cancer removal.
Post-surgery, the defect of surgery was reconstructed using tissue from the inner part of the cheek with the help of the robot. This was also a novel approach to reconstruct such defects.
The hospital informed that the patient is currently recovering, having regained the ability to talk and drink water.
The doctors are optimistic that with some more days of rehabilitation, the woman will be able to eat more comfortably.
