The fear of complex surgery led a 70-year-old woman, from the northern region, to live with a tumor the size of a tennis ball on her head, for two decades! An operation method using the "Da Vinci" robot, convinced her to undergo the long-awaited procedure, the like of which has been performed so far only a few in the world
S., 70 years old from the northern region, lived for 20 years with a benign tumor on her head. The tumor, which is located between the base of the skull and the jaw, close to the eye and the main artery leading to the brain, developed over the years and grew slowly. Finally, the tumor reached the size of a pear and was so large that it caused her to suffocate, have eating disorders, pain, and even risk her life. The conventional surgery to remove this type of tumor requires cuts in the neck and face and sawing off the jaw. The meaning of this operation is a long hospitalization and a serious damage to the patient's quality of life.
S. was afraid of undergoing such a complex operation, and came to the Rambam Medical Center for a consultation with Prof. Ziv Gil, head of the AEG and head and neck surgery department, where she was given a modern solution to treat the problem she suffers from - minimally invasive surgery with the help of a robot. About two weeks ago, S. underwent a unique operation, the first of its kind in Israel and the first in the world, to remove the tumor from her head - with the help of the "Da Vinci" robot. The operation was performed entirely through the mouth, without the need for making cuts in the face and sawing the skull.
In an operation that lasted 4 and a half hours, the doctors, Prof. Ziv Gil, director of the head and neck surgery department at Rambam, and Dr. Yaki Cohen, director of the voice and swallowing institute at the hospital, inserted two thin arms, each 4 mm thick, into the patient's mouth. With the help of a tiny 48D camera, the doctors were able to perform a complete and precise excision of the tumor, without the need to make cuts in the facial skin and without the need to saw the bones of the head. The tumor was removed completely, without damage to the nerves or blood vessels that were near the tumor. XNUMX hours after the operation, the patient already began to drink and speak freely and did not need additional treatments.
"For many years, this woman grew a lump that endangered her life, because she was afraid of the surgery," explains Prof. Gil, "she agreed to deal with the problem, only after the technology matured to do the surgery in modern ways. The robot is the surgeon's hands. But since they are smaller, the surgeon can use it to remove a tumor the size of a pear from the head, through the mouth. The surgeon's hands simply do not enter through the mouth, so to this day most surgeries are performed while opening the jaws and neck."
Surgeries with the help of a robot are routinely performed by the doctors of the AAR department at Rambam, for the treatment of malignant and benign tumors of the head and neck. The robot assists in performing a precise analysis, while working in confined spaces, which is only possible using special equipment developed for this purpose. In this type of surgery, the surgeon sits inside a console located at the other end of the room and with its help guides the robot into the patient's head.
