THE first patient in the region to undergo revolutionary surgery was on his feet hours after his operation.

Brian Fenton, 68, had his hip replaced using a new technique developed in the US and carried out by consultant surgeon Mr Tony Nargol.

The former ICI worker and grandfather-of-four was conscious during the three-and-a-quarter hour operation at Stockton's University Hospital of North Tees and watched it take place.

The new operation involves making two small incisions and forcing the hip replacement between muscles. Unlike a standard hip replacement operation the surgeon does not have to cut through muscle, which means the patient makes a much quicker recovery and experiences less pain.

A patient can often leave within 24 hours, instead of seven to 14 days, and hospital chiefs believe the procedure may eventually free up hospital beds and cut waiting lists.

Mr Fenton, whose wife, Eileen, was at his hospital bedside during the operation, said: "I would recommend this to absolutely anyone. I obviously had great faith in Mr Nargol and I wasn't even nervous about it.

"It was a little sore this morning but it really is fine. After two years of agony it is great."

Mr Fenton, of Billingham, Teesside, said he would have expected to wait about nine months for a normal operation, but had this one within six weeks.

Mr Nargol said he and fellow surgeon at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital, Nigel Brewster, had studied the new technique in London and Germany.

The pair also talked to Sarah Muirhead, the surgeon who replaced the Queen Mother's hips. It is thought Mr Fenton's operation was the first of its type in the UK outside of London and Birmingham.

Mr Nargol, who completes about 300 hip operations a year, said the operation could only be performed on arthritic hips and patients could not be badly overweight.

The first operation of this type at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital is expected to take place in February.