**5.2 Congenital diaphragmatic hernia repair**

Congenital diaphragm abnormalities, including eventration and Morgagni and Bochdalek diaphragmatic hernias, have been successfully repaired through the use of conventional MIS. However, some reports have shown a high recurrence rate for some defects. Robotic surgery is the alternative to close diaphragmatic hernias more efficiently [139].

Some authors prefer the thoracic approach to repair Bochdalek's diaphragmatic hernia, but infants weighing less than 2.5 kg are better treated with the abdominal approach. The author performed one case of Morgagni's diaphragmatic hernia and another case of Bochdalek's diaphragmatic hernia via the abdominal route. Robotic assistance allows the surgeon to more easily reach this area to suture diaphragmatic defects [139].

Acquired anomalies, such as diaphragmatic paralysis, can also be resolved with RATS [14, 139].

### **5.3 Thymectomy**

Radical thymectomy is the comprehensive treatment of myasthenia gravis. The feasibility and effectiveness of robotic thymectomy is evident in this cohort study [140]. In addition, performing the "early thymectomy" (performed within a year of diagnosis) resulted in higher remission rates compared to "late thymectomy" [141], including minimizing the adverse effects of immunosuppression in pediatric patients [142].

In recent studies including 49 children, thoracoscopic thymectomy was also safe for children with juvenile myasthenia gravis (JMG) [143, 144]. Two other studies with 9 and 18 children, reported the same results [145, 146]. Robotic thymectomy is a safe procedure, complications were low, and without mortality. Thymectomy should be offered as a part of multimodal therapy for treating children and adolescents with acetylcholine receptor antibody-Positive JMG [146].
