I performed my first Da Vinci Single Port (SP) robot transoral robotic surgery (TORS) at St Vincent’s Private Hospital, Sydney yesterday. It has been a long wait to get to this point after training in Strasbourg in July last year. I have been using the multiport robot since 2011.
The Da Vinci Single Port system has some unique advantages over the multiport platform when performing TORS. Specifically the SP provides me with a camera and instruments that work much more smoothly in tight spaces such as the mouth and throat.
Further, Single Port robotic surgery will allow surgeons who perform TORS to work even deeper down the throat. Tumours of the supraglottic larynx and the hypopharynx have always been technically difficult using the multiport robot or CO2 laser surgery. I believe using the SP will offer an even greater greater degree of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for these tumours.
