As per latest reports, a rare heart surgical operation utilizing a robot was recently carried out at the Chettinad Health City, Chennai.

The operation was conducted on 23-year-old D Vijayakanth, a resident of Vellore, on February 21 by a group of expert physicians headed by Dr. R Ravi Kumar, Director, Institute of Cardio Vascular Disease.

Vijayakanth had rheumatic valvular illness, owing to which he complained of shortness of breath and could not walk properly.

Dr. R Ravi Kumar stated that the robotically-assisted surgery entails the replacement of both the mitral as well as the aortal valve concurrently.

The surgical procedure, which cost Rs 2.25 lakh, was performed by a three armed robot.

"The best part about using a robot in cardiac surgery is that the patient's heart need not be opened and the surgery can be done using a small 4cm incision. This is not possible with normal surgeries without a robot," Dr. Ravi added.

Whilst the single valve surgical procedure was conducted in 2000, the double valve procedure happened after 11 years, Dr. Ravi also said.

He added that robotic surgical operation, which is quite new in India, can be utilized for a range of medical procedures.

The major benefit in this arena, said Dr. Ravi Kumar, was the recovery time. He forecasted that by the next 10 years about 80% of the surgical procedures in India would be done using robots.