The surgery requires an incision of only one centimetre, a hospital stay of two to three days and minimal blood loss. Professor N P Gupta of the Department of Urology said seven cases have been operated upon since June 21.

Myasthenia gravis is an auto immune disorder that causes muscle weakness.

“What we tried is robotic thymectomy for myasthenia gravis. We have been performing video-assisted thoracoscopic thymectomy for the past eight years. But this is the first time we used a robot,” Gupta said.

The disease is a result of a defect in transmission of nerve impulses to muscles. As a result, muscle stops contracting. The thymus gland located in front of the heart plays an important role in the development of the immune system.

In some cases of myasthenia gravis, the gland does not function or has cancer. “So options left are medication or or surgery,” said Professor Arvind Kumar of the AIIMS Department of Surgery who performed the operation with the assistance of two surgeons from Germany.

Giving details about the surgery, Kumar said the procedure involves opening of the chest. Earlier, it was like open heart surgery which involved cutting bones of the ribs which is traumatic for the structure of chest wall.

It also involved post-operative pain, a long hospital stay with and lots of blood loss.

However, with robotic assistance three tiny incisions are made through which surgical instruments are inserted into the body and surgery is carried out with the help of visual monitors.

“Robotic-assisted surgery is similar to video-assisted thorascoscopic except that we use specialised console along with monitor,” Kumar said.