BUILDING site manager Paul McAleese is recovering today after becoming the first heart patient in the UK to undergo a pioneering operation.

The 53-year-old, from West Cornforth, County Durham, is one of only 13 patients worldwide to have the new, low-risk, keyhole procedure.

"Considering I have just had an operation, I feel great," said Mr McAleese, who is married with three children.

He was operated on for a debilitating condition called atrial fibrillation which means the heart fails to beat correctly.

In his case, it led to heart palpitations and extreme tiredness.

A surgical team at James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, carried out the operation.

Headed by guest US surgeon Adam Saltman and assisted by James Cook surgeon Steve Hunter, the team performed keyhole surgery to rectify Mr McAleese's heart condition.

Before this treatment was available, all patients operated on for this condition have had to undergo open-heart surgery which has increased risk and means that patients take about three months to recover.

But thanks to a procedure pioneered by Mr Saltman at the University of Massachusetts, surgeons only need to make six small punctures, three on each side of the chest.

Guided by cameras, the surgical team insert a thin rubber tube into the chest cavity and loop it around the heart.

Once it is in position, they pass a tiny microwave antenna along the tube to the site of the malfunctioning heart muscle.

The antenna delivers a pulse of microwave energy which can deaden the problem area and restore the heart to normal.

Mr Hunter, who hopes to carry out more operations as part of his research, said it should eventually be possible to treat patients on a day case basis.

"Eventually somebody will figure out how to do this without making any cuts at all," he said.

Mr McAleese had his operation on Monday and yesterday the team operated on a 42-year-old woman from Holmrook in Cumbria.

The procedures were paid for out of the South Tees trust's charitable funds

Mr Saltman has now operated on 13 patients, including 11 in the US.

Mr McAleese said: "I feel extremely lucky to have had this new operation. I had no hesitation in putting myself in Mr Hunter's hands.