MILLIONS of people around the world were thought to have watch a surgeon at Blackburn Royal Infirmary carry out an operation live on the web on Wednesday morning.

Mr Michael Timms, Consultant ENT Surgeon, performed a tonsillectomy and a snoring surgery (CAUP -Coblation Assisted Upper-airway Procedure) and you could watch via this webcam link .

The tonsils of the patient - a seven-year-old girl - were removed using a new technique live on the internet to enable other surgeons around the world to watch.

It is less painful and faster than traditional methods and uses salt water which is turned into a plasma that can cut through tissue.

Mr Timms is a pioneer of the technique, which was first used in 2000.

Tonsils are oval-shaped masses of lymphatic tissue located at the back of the throat which aid the body in fighting infections. Approximately 5,000,000 tonsillectomies are performed world wide annually, making it one of the most common surgeries performed.

Although tonsils need to be removed because of repeated infections, they are more likely to be taken out because they have grown too large for the patient's airway which can result in snoring and interruptions in breathing at night causing daytime tiredness and learning difficulties.

The operation took about an hour.