It replaces the heart lung machine, which keeps the patients alive while their heart is stopped during conventional surgery.

Off-pump bypass surgery is a shorter operation and the patient loses less blood. And surgeons at Alegent Health say there is a much bigger benefit.

"Having a stroke is, from our perspective, a disaster," says Dr. John Batter, cardiologist with the Alegent Health Heart and Vascular Institute.

Find out more about Dr. John Batter. With off-pump surgery, Alegent Health data shows a clearly reduced risk of stroke. There is a 2% risk with traditional bypass and only .7% with off-pump surgery. "That's almost four people a year that are actually living a normal life," says Dr. Batter.

Today, off-pump is the preferred bypass method at Alegent Health, and it does require a high level of skill. A horseshoe shaped stabilizer keeps a small section of the heart still while the surgeon fixes one blocked artery after another.

"It is technically more difficult because the heart is beating, and is moving, and you have to know how to handle the heart in a different way," says Dr. Thomas Langdon, thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon who has performed hundreds of off-pump surgeries. Find out more about Dr. Thomas Langdon.

If you would like to find out more about off-pump surgery, visit the Alegent Health Heart and Vascular Institute online at www.alegent.com/heart.