TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2009 based on research and clinical trials performed at Penn Medicine.
Since 2005, more than 400 patients at Penn have participated in the world's first clinical trials of TORS. These research trials represent the largest and most comprehensive studies of the technology on record.
Studies have shown TORS dramatically improves the way that
head and neck cancer patients are treated by completely removing tumors while preserving speech swallowing and other key quality-of-life issues.
The procedure is so successful that TORS is becoming the new standard of care in the field of mouth and throat cancer.
Clinical Trials for Sleep Apnea
New studies at Penn Medicine are investigating TORS as a treatment for patients with sleep apnea in which a large tongue base contributes to obstruction of the airway.
This surgery is the first of its kind in the region and is being developed by the same pioneering team that invented and developed TORS for tumors of the head and neck.
Learn more about clinical trials for TORS to treat sleep apnea.