India (Commonwealth Union)_ Apollo Hospitals in Chennai has once again achieved a significant milestone by successfully conducting a robotic head-and-neck surgery on a 49-year-old woman. This breakthrough procedure involved the removal of an 8 cm tumor from her salivary gland, all without leaving any visible scars on her neck. This rare surgery, the first of its kind in India, was performed by Dr. Venkat Karthikeyan C, the Clinical head of Robotic ENT Head and Neck Oncology at Apollo Main Hospital.
The hospital also revealed that they have completed a total of 125 similar surgeries. Dr. Venkat Karthikeyan expressed his views about the remarkable surgery. He stated that the patient, Vijayalaxmi, was admitted to Apollo Hospitals with a big, visible tumor on the right side of her neck. This marks the first time in the country that a robotic RAHI-approached surgery has been employed to remove an 8 cm tumor from the submandibular gland without leaving a visible scar on the neck.
According to Dr Karthikeyan, robotic head-and-neck surgery is an emerging subspecialty in the field of ENT, with procedures categorized as Trans Oral Robotic Surgery (TORS) for throat cancers and Retroauricular Hairline incision (RAHI) for neck tumors, ensuring no visible scarring. This approach enables endoscopic neck surgeries with enhanced magnification and improved cosmetic outcomes, resulting in no visible scars on the exposed part of the neck.
Dr. Karthikeyan further explained that this technique is especially beneficial for younger individuals who are socially active and require treatment for various conditions such as thyroid and parathyroid glands, parapharyngeal space tumors, submandibular gland removal, benign neck swellings including branchial cleft cysts, and neck dissections for metastatic cervical lymph nodes in patients with head and neck cancers. This advanced surgical method also offers an ideal solution with enhanced cosmetic results for these patients.
