By Kay Quinn, KSDK-TV, August 4, 2006

Open heart surgery is the only treatment option for many types of heart problems, but that may soon change. Doctors believe this is a groundbreaking procedure that could change the way hearts are repaired.

In December, a Kentucky man became the first patient at Barnes Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine to undergo a new heart procedure. Six months later, you might expect him to still be on the mend, but he couldn''t feel better.

Summer is a busy time for Donald Sloyer.

"Well, I mow the lawn, trim the bushes, use the weed eater and work in the garden," said Sloyer.

So much to do, and at 85, Sloyer is just glad he feels able to do it. He didn''t always feel like it.

"I tried to mow my lawn in March of 2005 and I couldn''t do it and as time went on I felt even weaker," said Sloyer. "I felt washed out. When I sat down, I wanted to sleep. I had no energy."

A trip to the cardiologist identified his problem.

"He explained to me that I had a leakage and the only way he could repair it was with open heart surgery, but he suggested the clip method," said Sloyer.

It''s a new procedure being tested at Barnes Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. It not only reduces a patient''s hospital stay, recovery is a snap.

Open heart surgery can be just the opposite.

"(Open heart surgery is) a major operation. Most people will be in the hospital for at least five days with the recovery from all the surgery and bones and stuff that have to heal," said Dr. John Lasala. "That''s going to take weeks. With this procedure, our patient basically went home the next day."

Instead of surgeons cracking open Sloyer''s chest, cardiologists would repair the leaky mitral valve using a vein in Sloyer''s leg. Lasala is conducting trials on the procedure.

"It is purely percutaneous, which means through the skin. There are no incisions made, there are no sutures at all," said Lasala.

It''s the same approach that has been used for decades to perform angioplasty.

"We go up through the vein to the right side of the heart. We then have to perform a puncture to get from the right side to the left side. This is kind of like making a u-turn. You make that turn into the left atrium, and then using that echo probe we can direct ourselves across the valve itself," said Lasala.

The clip is dropped into the heart. When pulled back, it pulls the sides of the valve together, stopping the leak. Lasala demonstrated using an animal heart.

"This bubbling you see (is) the blood coming back at you -- regurgitating," he said.

Lasala said after the clip is deployed, the blood regurgitation goes away.

The clip itself is about the size of a dime, but clearly makes a big difference in patients. Sloyer went home two days after the procedure.

"I already felt better and within a week after I was home I could tell a definite difference," said Sloyer.

"It''s allowed me to do everything that I could do before I had the problem, and of course at my age I get tired, but that''s normal and this has improved that so much," said Sloyer. "(It''s made) a terrific difference."

Lasala predicts in five to ten years most heart valve repairs, even valve replacements, will be done using similar procedures. The clip procedure is being done only in clinical trials and is not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Trials are being done in St. Louis and 24 other sites across the country.