Barcelona's Vall d'Hebron Hospital claims that it successfully performed the first fully robotic lung transplant in history.

"I have no pain" says the alleged world's first recipient of a fully robotic lung transplant.

The procedure was performed using a minimally invasive technique, with the head of thoracic surgery at the hospital expecting the recovery to "be faster than usual".

The Head of Thoracic Surgery and Lung Transplant Service at the hospital Albert Jauregui said: "We completely removed this very large incision, replacing it with a very small incision above the sternum, an incision which makes it possible not to have to break the ribs."

He continued saying, "This small incision is made in the skin. And it's not like the traditional incision made between the ribs. You can open but you open up to a certain point, otherwise, you have to break the ribs. This incision is made under the sternum, where the skin is very elastic. This allows us to open only the skin, and to insert this lung little by little."

"We believe recovery may be faster than usual. Patients could come off mechanical ventilation more quickly. They could start intensive care rehabilitation and be discharged early from the hospital to go home," he explained.

The lung transplant patient, identified as Xavier, said "I have no pain. I couldn't tell just before I woke up, because I wasn't conscious. But since I regained consciousness, I don't have any pain."