title: Outcomes of transoral robotic surgery: a preliminary clinical experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report a single institution's experience with transoral robotic surgery (TORS) and its clinical outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Preliminary clinical data from a prospective TORS study.
  
  
  METHODS
  University tertiary care facility.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients who underwent TORS at The Ohio State University Medical Center. Demographic, intraoperative, clinicopathological, and follow-up functional data were collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-four patients underwent TORS with a median age of 56.9 years. A total of 113 TORS procedures were performed. Fifty-four patients with squamous cell cancer (SCCA) were included in the final analysis. Mean follow-up time was 11.8 months (range, 2-29). There was a trend toward longer TORS setup time, operative time, estimated blood loss, and hospital length of stay with advanced (T(3)) compared with early-stage tumors (T(1-2)). There were no major intraoperative complications, and none of the procedures were aborted because of inability to remove the tumor. Negative resection margins were achieved in 93% of cases of SCCA. No patients experienced immediate postoperative complications, and all of the patients tolerated an oral diet without any airway compromise on the day of surgery. Forty-nine patients (91%) underwent adjuvant radiation therapy (RT), with 11 patients requiring gastrostomy tube placement during RT. Addition of TORS to overall management of head and neck SCCA spared adjuvant RT or combined chemotherapy and RT (CRT) in 50% of stage I/II tumors and spared chemotherapy in 34% of stage III/IV tumors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TORS is a safe procedure with minimal complications and favorable clinical and functional outcomes. It is a promising future alternative surgical treatment for laryngopharyngeal tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA. agnes.hurtuk@osumc.edu
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hurtuk
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Old
authors.forename: Theodoros N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Teknos
authors.forename: Enver
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ozer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009055:Mouth; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009959:Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013517:Otorhinolaryngologic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012371:Robotics / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome