This week Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. Alexandra Kejner about the increasing use of transoral robotic surgery for head and neck cancer. Dr. Kejner is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology and a head and neck cancer surgeon at Hollings Cancer Center at MUSC.
TRANSCRIPT:
Conner: I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio with Health Focus here at the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Transoral robotic surgery is being used as a minimally invasive approach to treating head and neck cancer. Doctor Alexandra Kejner is here to provide the details. Doctor Kejner is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology and a head and neck cancer surgeon at Hollings Cancer Center at MUSC. Doctor Kejner, tell us about transoral robotic surgery for head and neck cancer.
Dr. Kejner: Transoral robotic surgery is actually a minimally invasive version of surgery that allows us to get visualization, to really see tumors in areas that previously we really couldn't see without doing really invasive operations. The robot can kind of look around corners and give us a close-up view that we can't have with just the naked eye. We can actually see things like the tonsils, the back of the tongue right around the corner to the voice box and to the very, very back of the throat.
Conner: And tell us details about the robotic part of the surgery that you're doing.
Dr. Kejner: The robot actually is controlled by a console, and I have little controllers that I use with both hands. And then, the visualization is actually three dimensional goggles, so I can see 3D high definition. And so, then my movements are completely mimicked by the robot. So, everything that I do, the robot does. And so, the robot is not independent. We haven't gotten to that point in robotic surgery yet. So, basically it's like my hands are the robot's hands, but just much smaller.
Conner: And why is this approach increasingly being used specifically for head and neck cancer?
Dr. Kejner: This is a really nice way to be able to get to those areas. And, this allows us to be really precise with our surgery, allows us to get a really good control of blood vessels and things like that. And, allows us to do a lot less injury or damage to other areas that we don't need to. And, reduce a lot of the side effects that we would see from a larger operation. And, then also potentially avoid things like chemotherapy or radiation, or occasionally even reduce the amount of extra radiation we might have to use.
Conner: And which head and neck cancer patients are typically eligible or good candidates for this type of surgery.
Dr. Kejner: The largest number of patients that are eligible for this are typically patients with tonsil cancers, base of tongue cancers, and supraglottic larynx cancers. And so oftentimes we see these in the setting of HPV related cancers. HPV is the human papillomavirus. And so the most common kind of cancer that we see in this area of the tonsils, the base of tongue and the larynx are related to that virus, which is, you know, oftentimes very responsive to treatment.
Conner: What are some of the innovations for this type of transoral robotic surgery that have made an impact, especially for head and neck cancer, most.
Dr. Kejner: Patients who have these types of tumors do really well with treatment, even with surgery or with radiation therapy. But occasionally we will have patients who develop recurrence, meaning their cancer comes back. One of the great things with the robot is that it still allows us to offer a minimally invasive approach to that type of tumor. Whereas again, historically, when people had recurrence, we were still having to do pretty aggressive radical surgery. So that's one of the things that's been really innovative in this regard. Because not only can we take the tumor out, but we can also reconstruct these areas in conjunction with the robot itself.
Conner: Doctor Kejner. Thanks for this information about this type of head and neck cancer surgery.
Dr. Kejner: Thank you so much for having me.
Conner: From the radio studio, for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio.
Health Focus transcripts are intended to accurately represent the original audio version of the program; however, some discrepancies or inaccuracies may exist. The audio format serves as the official record of Health Focus programming.
