Mick Foster couldn't even go for a walk without worrying about another heart attack.

"My life expectancy would probably have been early 50s," he said.

Instead of cutting open the chest, surgeons make a small incision through the rib cage.

By 40, Mick had already survived two heart attacks. Doctors gave him two choices - bypass surgery or live with a ticking time bomb.

"I could never get past the idea of chest open, people's hands inside there playing around," he said.

He soon had another option - minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass or MIDCAB.

"It's radically different than conventional bypass surgery." Stephen Ball, MD, Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Vanderbilt Medical Center

Instead of cutting open the chest, surgeons make a small incision through the rib cage. They use the mammary artery to reroute blood to the heart. Suction cups stabilize the heart as surgeons sew on the bypass graft.

At Vanderbilt University, it's now being used for multi-bypass surgery.

"My hope would be that almost all of the bypass surgery can be done with this minimally invasive approach,” said Dr. Ball.

In MIDCAB, the heart continues to beats on its own. Recovery takes about two weeks.

"I could never have done this about two, three years ago. I can breathe now. I can talk now," said Mick.

Mick feels like a new man.

"If I get to 75 I'm happy … as long as I get my 401K!" he said.

Only a small number of hospitals will use the minimally invasive approach for multi-vessel bypass.

There is a lower infection rate with the MIDCAB surgery and it's about 25 percent less expensive than  traditional bypass surgery.