Endoscopic Neck Dissection in an Animal Model

Abstract

Endoscopic neck dissection in a porcine model seems to be free of major complications and able to retrieve the majority of neck lymph nodes. A larger number of animals and their survival need to be studied before human studies can begin.

Robotic endoscopic surgery in a porcine model of the infant neck

“…The total length of incision for all three ports in our survival animals was 23 mm, which is similar to reports for endoscopic neck surgery models in the literature [ 21 , 22 , 35 ]. This total may, however, be further reduced by using a 5 mm endoscope, which Aesop does accommodate, and the da Vinci system has a 3D endoscope with a diameter of 8 mm.…”

“…Inspired by pioneering work in endoscopic neck surgery [ 21 , 22 , 31 , 32 ], and by robotic endoscopic surgery in ever-smaller spaces [ 28 , 30 , 33 ], we sought to determine whether robotic surgery could be successfully performed on a survival animal model with a neck the size of a human infant. Previous reports of endoscopic neck surgery that have used a porcine model of the adult neck have employed pigs ranging in size from 20 to 60 kg [ 21 , 22 , 34 , 35 ]. In addition to the challenges described above, further limitations to performing robotic endoscopic surgery on smaller models have included the size limits, the types of instrument currently available, and lack of optimum animal models for neck surgery.…”