Transoral robotic surgery in benign diseases including obstructive sleep apnea: Safety and feasibility

To evaluate the safety and feasibility of the da Vinci Surgical System in transoral robotic-assisted surgery for benign indications.

A multicenter, single-arm, retrospective case series.

Perioperative outcomes were recorded for patients presenting with obstructive sleep apnea, airway obstruction, lingual tonsillar/tonsillar/tongue base hypertrophy, or dysphagia who underwent one or more transoral procedures, including lingual tonsillectomy and tongue base resection (partial glossectomy) at one of three US institutions.

Between January 2010 and October 2013, 285 patients (age 51.5 years, body mass index 30.5 kg/m(2) ) underwent 293 procedures. No conversions or blood transfusions were needed. The average operative time was 86.7 minutes, and the average volume of tissue resected (lingual tonsil and tongue base) was 8.3 mL. Hospital stays averaged 1.8 days, and the postoperative complication rate was 20.7%. There were no complications specifically related to the use the da Vinci Surgical System, and none of the complications were life threatening.

These results demonstrate that it is safe and feasible to use the da Vinci Surgical System to perform lingual tonsillectomy and base of tongue resection (partial glossectomy) procedures for benign indications.

4