TUESDAY, Dec. 18 (HealthDay News) -- The first minimally invasive endoscopic surgical procedures in the skull base show promise for treating skull base neoplasms, according to two studies published in the December issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery. A third study in the same issue details successful utilization of this technique in radical tonsillectomies.
Ehab Y. Hanna, M.D., and colleagues at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, describe a novel surgical procedure conducted on four cadavers in which endoscopic transantral robotic surgery allowed access to the anterior and central skull base to perform anterior or posterior ethmoidectomy, sphenoidotomy or resection of the middle or superior turbinates as needed. This approach allowed for three-dimensional, two-handed, tremor-free surgery.
Bert W. O'Malley Jr., M.D., and Gregory Weinstein, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, describe the use of transoral robotic surgery in cadaver models and the first known human patient with a parapharyngeal to infratemporal fossa cystic neoplasm. In the same issue, these authors with colleagues describe how the same technique was successfully used to perform radical tonsillectomy on 27 patients with tonsillar carcinoma.
"Robotic surgery
holds potential as a minimally invasive approach to skull base neoplasms; however, continued development and investigation is warranted in a prospective human clinical trial before final conclusions can be drawn as to the full advantages and limitations of this approach," O'Malley and Weinstein conclude.
Abstract - Hanna
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Abstract - O'Malley
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Abstract - Weinstein
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