Mumbai, Mar 13 (IANS): In the first such surgery of its kind in western India, a total robotic liver transplant operation saved the life of an 8-month-old toddler from Ahmedabad at the Global Hospitals here, officials said here on Monday.

The total robotic surgical team was led by Gaurav Chaubal, which operated on the little child, Mohammed A.K. Jufna, afflicted by a rare metabolic liver disease called Crigler Najjar Syndrome.

His elder sibling had earlier died of the same condition, and this baby boy suffered from jaundice, diarrhoea, vomiting, repeated fever and was rushed for an urgent transplant to the Global Hospitals in Parel, Mumbai.

After assessment, the child's mother volunteered to donate a part of her liver to save her little son.

Chaubal said that a complete robotic donor hepatectomy offered benefits like a very small scar below the waistline instead of the usual inverted L-shape cut in open surgeries.

"The robotic surgical system provides high precision and control, reduces blood loss, lower risks of infection, postoperative pain and abdominal wall hernias besides reduced complication rate," said Chaubal.

Accordingly, recovery is faster and the donor-mother was discharged on the third day after the surgery, compared with at least 6 days hospital stay in the regular open surgeries.

Global Hospitals CEO Dr. Vivek Talaulikar said that this was the first robotic donor hepatectomy done end-to-end in the first attempt in western India with the Da Vinci Xi system that allows computer-guided, 3-D visualisation with impressive results.

"Our first child had already succumbed to his rare genetic disorder and my wife came forward to donate a part of her liver. We are very happy and thank the medical team for saving our second child," said the child's elated father, Abdul Kadar Jufna.*