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TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS)

TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS) was invented and developed by the pioneering team of Gregory S. Weinstein, MD and Bert W. O'Malley, Jr., MD at Penn.

A Celebration of the FDA Approval of TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS)

<div class="transcript"> <h2>Video Transcript</h2> <p><strong>Bert O'Malley: </strong>TORS really is a constellation of various procedures through the mouth and the head and neck region. And the FDA approval is really a stamp of approval by our government, that what we're doing is safe, effective and is going to make a difference or is making a difference in our patients.</p> <p><strong>Gregory Weinstein: </strong>At this point interest is being expressed from academic institutions, and Cancer Centers throughout the country, to come to Penn to learn.</p> <p><strong>Bert O'Malley: </strong>It's really a paradigm shift in how we do head and neck cancer surgery. In the old days in order to access areas in the back of the throat or the tonsil, that would take 12-14 hours, 7-10 days in the hospital, long-term tubes in the neck and feeding tubes in the stomach for the patients; and TORS is totally different. The surgical procedure for TORS takes us about 45 minutes, and it's 1-3 days in the hospital maybe. And our patients have no broken jaw bones, nothing; we work right through the mouth.</p> <p><strong>Gregory Weinstein: </strong>These techniques are revolutionary in that they allow miniaturized tools to work in the mouth. It’s as if the surgeon’ss hands were miniaturized of working in a tight pit spaces of the throat. So robotic surgery is the perfect combination of minimally invasive surgery and outstanding outcomes.</p> <p><strong>Bert O'Malley: </strong>Development of TORS and our successful outcomes, are because of the input of our multidisciplinary head/neck cancer team. We work together with our team comprehensively to provide the best combination of therapies, not just the surgical TORS.</p> <p><strong>Gregory Weinstein: </strong>Probably the most exciting aspect of the TORS, from my perspective, is when I see the patients in my clinic. And I see how happy they are and how satisfied they are after these treatments. To me it's remarkable, that a few years ago we were treating patients with very radical surgery or high intensive chemotherapy and radiation. And so much of that can be avoided and so much of the suffering can be avoided in these patients.</p> <p><strong>Bert O'Malley: </strong>And our outcomes data are as good or better in terms of curing the tumor. And they don't get the cuts, the cosmetic deformity, all aspects, chronic pain, they really have tremendously benefited so many ways.</p> <p><strong>Gregory Weinstein: </strong>The patients that are coming from around the country and internationally to take part in our clinically TORS program benefit from our outstanding Clinical Care Coordinators that help you navigate every step of your journey from arrival until going home healthy after your treatment.</p> <p><strong>Bert O'Malley: </strong>The patient satisfaction excitement; the way they have great outcomes, the smiles that they give us when they come in to our clinics and how grateful they are, is the ultimate satisfaction.</p> <p><strong>Cynthia Miller: </strong>I woke up in the middle of the night with a cough. And I couldn't go back to sleep and I thought that it was kind of a strange onset of a cold, and I went into a walk-in clinic, and that doctor saw something in my mouth. And he said, "I need you to go see an ENT - an ear, nose and throat specialist."<br /> <br /> After that, they found that it wasn't cancerous, thank God. But that it was a tumor and where it was placed, it had to come out. And the procedure that they described was that they were going to cut me from the base of my ear down to the middle of my throat, and do a tracheotomy. And then cut me from there to here, pull all of my teeth, break my jaw, and dig the tumor out, because that was the standard procedure for this type of tumor.<br /> <br /> I've spent 30 years as a professional trainer and motivator, and an executive coach and mentor to people so my voice has been pretty much my career. So I explored my options. I immediately came home to Pennsylvania and began to search. My last visit was here at the University of Pennsylvania, where I had the great opportunity to meet Dr. O'Malley and Dr. Weinstein. I realized that you may not be able to use the robotic on me, but I want you to try, and if for some reason it doesn't work, then go with the other procedure, because he knew how to do the same procedure, as well.<br /> <br /> And so I was scheduled for the procedure, and I came in on a Friday. Saturday I was up and sitting in the chair and they kept coming in and asking me, "Are you having any pain?" and I'm like, "No, no." And I'm like, "It's gotta come at some point in time." I went home on that Monday and the second week I was able to eat everything that I had been eating and I never did experience any pain. It was a fabulous procedure.<br /> <br /> I am what the medical profession calls a "NED". I am "No Evidence of Disease." I am tumor free. Yay.</p> <p><strong>Jason Newman: </strong>I think one of the things that TORS has done for us which has been great, is it's allowed us to offer patients a different option for treatment of some of their cancers. And that in and of itself is really quite an accomplishment.</p> <p><strong>Harry Quon: </strong>You know we're getting great results with our patients, and even more importantly, even though in some patients they're getting surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, their chances of having permanent swallowing problems I can say is zero right now.</p> <p><strong>Craig Thompson: </strong>Well, this is a great step forward for Penn Medicine, we've had a terrific program in head/neck cancer and therapy. And the ability to do robotic surgery which minimizes the side effects for the patient, and really add that to the armaterium, do it for the world, because this is – we're celebrating the approval of the FDA of the technique that was invented here at Penn.</p> <p><strong>Male Patient: </strong>Thank God that I ended up here, only 2 miles from my house; but yet it's the best in the world, the technology and the doctors.</p> <p><strong>Male Patient: </strong>You couldn't ask for better doctors, and a better facility to get a surgeon to keep you alive, basically. It's the best care in the United States.</p> <p><strong>Male Patient: </strong>Originally I was going to another hospital in around Washington D.C., at that time I came up here and I should say too that the care that I received at the University of Pennsylvania was superb.</p> <p><strong>Female: </strong>And I thank God everyday for Dr. Weinstein and also for Dr. Quon because without them, he may not be here today.</p> <p><strong>Male Patient: </strong>I am a patient of TORS. They are my heroes. I feel that I've not only prolonged my life but I've taken the best possible path that I could have taken to cure myself of cancer.</p> </div>

Video: FDA Approves TransOral Robotic Surgery

The video was taken at an event to celebrate the FDA approval of TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS), a minimally invasive surgical approach developed by surgeons at the Perelman School of Medicine.

Date: 07/16/2010

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About the Program

Penn Medicine's TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS) Program is a world-class surgical program comprised of the leading surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and operating personnel dedicated to providing superior patient outcomes through the use of robotic-assisted technology. The program benefits not only patients seeking state-of-the-art care, but also physicians who come from around the world to observe and learn about this groundbreaking procedure.

TransOral Robotic Surgery may either allow the patient to avoid radiation altogether or decreases the intensity thereby avoiding side effects of treatment.

TORS is the world's first group of minimally-invasive robotic surgery techniques enabling surgeons to remove benign and malignant tumors of the mouth and throat. This revolutionary breakthrough results in shorter, virtually scarless head and neck surgery. Designed to avoid incisions for primary site resection, TORS is performed through the patient's mouth and provides unprecedented access to the small and often difficult-to-reach areas of the mouth and throat.

TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS) Team – Led by Drs. Gregory S. Weinstein and Bert W. O'Malley, Jr.

The Penn Medicine robotic surgery team provides world-class, personalized health care. Drs. Gregory S. Weinstein and Bert W. O'Malley, Jr., Co-Directors of the University of Pennsylvania's TransOral Robotic Surgery program, invented the TORS techniques, and have performed more TransOral robotic surgery (TORS) procedures than any other physicians in the world.

Drs. Weinstein and O'Malley lead the world's most experienced team in this procedure, which is renowned for providing excellence in patient outcomes with respect to superior cancer control, swallowing function, quicker recovery and maintenance of quality of life.

Drs. Weinstein and O'Malley have created the first and only traning program in TransOral Robotic Surgery ( TORS) in the World – they teach the teachers.

The Department of Otorhinaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania did all of the original research on Transoral Robotic Surgery TORS and was the first institution in the world to offer da Vinci TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS) in 2005. The adoption of this highly advanced robotics technique demonstrates the Penn Medicine commitment to providing world-class health care. Learn more about the history of TransOral robotic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania culminating in the recent FDA approval of these novel and beneficial surgical techniques.

Penn Medicine has assembled the most experienced surgeons and staff in one of the most advanced inpatient and outpatient facilities in the world for its TransOral robotic surgery (TORS) program. This combination of experience and state-of-the-art technology in one of the finest institutions worldwide has made Penn Medicine the most sought-out TransOral robotic surgery (TORS) treatment center in the country. Due to Dr. Weinstein and Dr. O'Malley's national and international reputations, Penn Medicine has become a destination program, serving international, domestic, and local patients.

PENN created the First in the World TransOral Robotic Surgery Program(TORS) with Superior Outcomes

Patients come from around the country and the world to visit Penn Medicine's state-of-the-art campuses for a unique experience that is not available elsewhere. Both international and domestic physicians attend training on the latest robotic surgical treatments at the Glenolden Robotics Training Facility. Drs. Gregory S. Weinstein and Bert W. O'Malley, Jr, are Co-directors of both the TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS) Program and the Department of Otorhinaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery multidisciplinary Penn Center for Head and Neck Cancer.

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