When Trevor Bennett visited his GP because of a persistent change in his voice, he never imagined it would lead him to become a "first" for Toowoomba surgeons.

He was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx.

"I had radium treatment, but it didn't do anything," he said.

"So that's when they said they were going to try the new robotic surgery."

Toowoomba surgeons Dr Suresh Mahendran and Dr Roger Grigg performed the operation with a DaVinci robotic system, with assistance from Professor Suren Krishnan from the Royal Adelaide Hospital, who is considered a leader in robotic ear, nose and throat surgery.

"We were very thankful we picked up the cancer early enough that it was held within the voice box structure itself, so Mr Bennett became the perfect candidate for this type of surgery," Dr Mahendran said.

Mr Bennett admits to being a little "scared" to know he was the first patient to have the procedure.

"But I had faith in the doctors," he said.

Robots in the operating theatre

Instruments are placed at the end of six arms and surgeons use two hand controllers and six foot pedals to operate while looking through a special viewfinder.

"It mimics exactly what our hand movements are, but it allows a greater range of movement," Dr Mahendran said.

He said there were significant benefits using a robot in surgery such as this.

"If it was a straightforward conventional laryngectomy there would have been a cut from the jaw on one side to the other side, coming down to the lower neck," he said.

"In this surgery there's no external scar."

Doctors were able to use the mouth opening for the majority of the surgery.

"Using the robot it means you're not cutting through nerves in the skin," Dr Mahendran said.

"And there's no compromising major blood vessels and nerves that could potentially be harmed through open surgery.

"It saved a second operation and gets the patient vocalising as soon as the wound is healed."

Patient Trevor Bennett gave the DaVinci robot a 'hug' when he visited St Andrews Hospital to thank the surgeons. ( ABC Southern Qld: Peter Gunders )

A new voice

Thanks to the valve that was inserted at the same time, Mr Bennett can talk, albeit in a much more gravelly voice than he used to have.

Trevor Bennett's speech valve can be easily seen through the stoma (the hole in his neck). ( ABC Southern Qld: Peter Gunders )

"My sister says I sound like [Federal member for Groom] Ian Macfarlane," he laughed.

He needs to hold a finger over the hole in his neck when he speaks, and is visiting a speech pathologist to re-learn how to speak.

"I think we take talking for granted," he said.

"But after all this, and having to do speech therapy, I don't take it for granted anymore.

"There could be worse things, I might not have had a voice at all. I'm lucky."

A milestone for regional medicine

Dr Grigg said Toowoomba was the fourth centre in Australia to have a surgical robot like the one used in Mr Bennett's surgery.

"We were ahead of Melbourne and Brisbane, which is fantastic," he said.

"We think it is important that a high standard of care is available in a regional centre.

"Now other places are learning from our experience, and we think we can't see any reason why we don't become a major leader in Australia for robotic surgery."