A historical note on the earliest robotic papers in Otolaryngology
For years, probably influenced by my own personal evolution in the field, and, admittedly, by my longstanding admiration for Greg Weinstein, I thought that Transoral Robotic Surgery (TORS) was the first explored application of robotics in Head&Neck Surgery.
In my mind, the development of robotic Remote Access neck surgery came later; parallel to TORS, but after it. In fact, I have often presented the historical timeline emphasizing how several robotic cervical approaches were essentially “robotizations” of previous endoscopic techniques. The historical interpretation we described some years ago in my paper with Kyu Eun Lee still largely holds true.
But recently I came across an article that slightly disrupts that chronology. A Laryngoscope paper from 2003, with some very familiar names in the story: David Terris, Christine Gourin, and Frederic Moll. A colaborative paper between Stanford University and Intuitive Surgical at Sunnyvale.
The title says everything: “Surgical robotic applications in otolaryngology.” This was a feasibility study performed in four porcine models. And the procedures are fascinating to read today: submandibular gland resection, selective neck dissection, partial parotidectomy, and thymectomy (no thyroid surgery…).
And the rationale was perfectly logical. The original da Vinci surgical platform was initially developed as an improved alternative to conventional endoscopic surgery. At that time, pioneers of endoscopic neck surgery (Gagner, Inabnet, Ikeda…) were already actively exploring endoscopic cervical approaches. From that perspective, it was natural that some of the earliest robotic experiments in Otolaryngology focused on the neck.
But historically, the paper is also important. Because it reminds us that robotic Head&Neck Surgery did not start exclusively through the mouth. From the very beginning, there was also a cervical and remote-access vision of the field. TORS would ultimately become the transformative breakthrough that changed the field. But these early cervical experiments show that the original robotic imagination in Otolaryngology was broader than many of us remember.
J Granell. May 16, 2026
Haus BM, Kambham N, Le D, Moll FM, Gourin C, Terris DJ. Surgical robotic applications in otolaryngology. Laryngoscope. 2003 Jul;113(7):1139-44. doi: 10.1097/00005537-200307000-00008.
McLeod IK, Melder PC. Da Vinci robot-assisted excision of a vallecular cyst: a case report. Ear Nose Throat J. 2005 Mar;84(3):170-2.
Hockstein NG, Nolan JP, O’malley BW Jr, Woo YJ. Robotic microlaryngeal surgery: a technical feasibility study using the daVinci surgical robot and an airway mannequin. Laryngoscope. 2005 May;115(5):780-5. doi: 10.1097/01.MLG.0000159202.04941.67.
Weinstein GS, O’malley BW Jr, Hockstein NG. Transoral robotic surgery: supraglottic laryngectomy in a canine model. Laryngoscope. 2005 Jul;115(7):1315-9. doi: 10.1097/01.MLG.0000170848.76045.47.
Granell J. Lee KE. Remote Access thyroid surgery. Rev ORL 2020, 11, 2, 179-194. doi: 10.14201/orl.21305