Oklahoma City doctors perform advanced heart surgery

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- Doctors at Mercy Health Center in Oklahoma City say a new type of heart surgery could eliminate repeated angioplasty procedures.

Cardiologists and radiologists teamed up Friday to perform the surgery for the first time.

The procedure allows surgeons to apply precise radiation inside blood vessel walls that have developed scar tissue from previous angioplasty surgeries.

An angioplasty is the process of inserting a catheter into a blood vessel to inflate it and unclog blockage.

The new radiation procedure minimizes scar tissue. Scar tissue occurs in about one-third of angioplasty patients.

The surgery is part of a study being conducted by doctors at the Oklahoma Foundation for Cardiovascular Research.