Trident Medical Center now offers services including use of a robot that uses a single port, or one “arm,” to help target tumors in the mouth, throat and nasal area that are typically found with head and neck cancers.
Head and neck surgical oncologist Dr. Josh Hornig with the Head and Neck Specialist Charleston says traditional robots, such as the four-armed robot, were meant for abdominal or chest surgeries.
“With a single port, what it allows us to do is to get into tighter spaces and to see the tumors more naturally,” Hornig says. “And if you can see things better, it’s obviously easier to remove them, to remove cancers in that area without removing as much normal tissue.”