Flex Robotic System in transoral robotic surgery: The first 40 patients

Abstract

Lesions in the oropharynx, hypopharynx, or supraglottic larynx could be successfully resected using the Flex Robotic System, thus making the system a safe and effective tool in transoral robotic surgery. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 39: 471-475, 2017.

Transoral surgery using the Flex Robotic System: Initial experience in the United States

“…Lang et al also demonstrated excellent access to the oropharynx and larynx, finding that 75 of 80 patients with malignancies were accessible for resection with the Flex system. Importantly, there is a reasonable average setup time of between 9 and 12.4 minutes, a data point on the system's practicality . These studies demonstrated the utility of this technology in TORS, however, more research is needed to better evaluate and understand the efficacy and safety profile of this technology.…”

“…Very little literature, none from the United States, exists to assess the Flex system's performance in humans. In a prospective study (N = 40), Mattheis et al (2016) demonstrated excellent transoral visualization with the Flex system. They showed that 95% of the T1 and T2 carcinomas of the oropharynx, hypopharynx, and supraglottis in their cohort were accessible, allowing for oncologically sound resections without any serious adverse events.…”

Potential Advantages of a Single-Port, Operator-Controlled Flexible Endoscope System for Transoral Surgery of the Larynx

“…14 Improved access to the larynx and decreased surgical morbidity are regarded as the main potential benefits. 19,20 In particular, access to the anterior commissure of the larynx by TORS has been described as highly challenging. 15,16 For the laryngeal space in particular, the number of published surgical cases is comparatively small, and only a few successful applications have been described.…”

Teleoperated tubular continuum robots for transoral surgery – feasibility in a porcine larynx model

“…Other manufacturers have already sought to overcome these limitations using a flexible and adaptable construction. For instance, the Flex® System (Medrobotics, Raynham, USA) shows promising results, and successful clinical use of this commercially available system has been reported with some restrictions …”