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The new heart procedure has been controversial among many doctors.

Some early studies showed blood vessels were more likely to get re-clogged so patients needed surgery again.

Now research in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows beating heart bypass stacks up well against the traditional operation.

Edmond Boyd, 72, considers it remarkable he's here, recovering from a heart bypass operation.

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Dr. John Puskas just performed beating heart bypass surgery on Boyd after another hospital turned him down for traditional bypass surgery because his health was so poor.

"I feel great. I feel like I'm 17 years old again," Boyd said.

Dr. John Puskas led a study of the two surgery methods.

Half of his patients had a traditional bypass. They were hooked up to a heart lung machine that pumped blood while their hearts were stopped and new blood vessels grafted in place of the old clogged ones.

The other half underwent beating heart bypass. A suction device steadied their beating hearts while grafts were placed.

Some experts have questioned whether the grafts put in while hearts were beating, would be durable.

"This is the first time it has ever been demonstrated that unselected patients -- irrespective of their heart problems -- could have an operation without the heart lung machine and have their bypass grafts stand up the same way we expect them to stand up with the traditional operation," Dr. Puskus said.

It's great news for Ed Boyd who's been given a second chance.

"That's my hero," he said, of Puskus.

There's more good news for beating heart bypass patients: The study showed they leave the hospital on average a day sooner than the other patients.