Sanford Health, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., is the first in the region to offer robotic surgery to treat tongue and tonsil cancer, according to a hospital news release.
Surgeons John Lee, MD, and W. Chad Spanos, MD, who both specializes in head and neck cancer, are the first to engage the new technology, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration within the last year.
The procedure, called transoral robotic surgery, allows surgeons to operate on tumors in the tonsil or base of tongue without having to make incisions in the neck. Instead, physicians can enter through the mouth and avoid the risk of potentially disfiguring neck surgery altogether. Other benefits include less blood loss, fewer effects on speech and swallowing and fewer side effects, according to the news report.
Read the hospital news release about transoral robotic surgery at Sanford Health.
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Surgeons John Lee, MD, and W. Chad Spanos, MD, who both specializes in head and neck cancer, are the first to engage the new technology, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration within the last year.
The procedure, called transoral robotic surgery, allows surgeons to operate on tumors in the tonsil or base of tongue without having to make incisions in the neck. Instead, physicians can enter through the mouth and avoid the risk of potentially disfiguring neck surgery altogether. Other benefits include less blood loss, fewer effects on speech and swallowing and fewer side effects, according to the news report.
Read the hospital news release about transoral robotic surgery at Sanford Health.
Related Articles on Becker's Top 50 Hospitals:
Dr. Michael Kastan to Lead New Duke University Cancer Center
Beaumont Hospital Nurse Receives Nightingale Award for Research Geared Toward New Nurses
Mayo Clinic: Surgeon Caseload, Practice Setting Affect Treatment of Small Kidney Tumors