Transoral Robotic Surgery for Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Past, Present, and Future

Nocturnal upper airway collapse often involves the obstruction at the tongue base. Several surgical procedures have been developed in recent years to address this area in continuous positive airway pressure-nonadherent patients and include hyolingual advancement, tongue suture suspension, and various lingual resection techniques. Traditional tongue base resection is generally done either via a transcervical technique or transorally with an endoscope for visualization. Each of these approaches has significant potential limitations. The unsurpassed visualization, dexterity, and control provided by the Da Vinci Surgical System offer many benefits for the surgeon compared with the other technologies.