They gathered in Glenfield from all over the world – 150 of the smartest heart surgeons watching a giant screen in our local hospital for a glimpse of what they will be doing tomorrow, right here today.

Welcome to Leicester and a medical masterclass; a glimpse into the future of heart surgery, a future which promises to be safer, simpler, better for the patient and cheaper for the NHS.

The eyes of the medical world were trained on young Michael Keeling, a 14-year-old lad from Hucknall, Nottingham, who was born with a serious heart defect.

Michael – a normal, happy lad who likes Liverpool and hates hospitals – has already had four serious operations, his first when he was just nine weeks old.

He suffers from something called a tetralogy of fallot's; a congenital heart complaint which has several debilitating side-effects, the most worrying of which is a potentially fatal narrowing of the heart's main pulmonary valve which leads to symptoms of dizziness and endless fatigue.

Widening this valve previously involved traumatic open-heart surgery; breaking the sternum and opening the rib cage to get to the heart.

Not now.

Today, doctors at Glenfield have found an easier way to repair broken hearts.

This is not only reassuring for Michael today – it's good news for tomorrow's heart patients of patients with heart complaints.

"Each time you open the sternum it gets more and more difficult," said consultant paediatric cardiologist Dr Magdi Tofeig.

Dr Tofeig and his colleagues have developed a way of opening and repairing the heart's pulmonary valve by going in through the patient's groin.

It's a tricky procedure for the surgeon to get right but has massive benefits. After open-heart surgery, patients could expect to spend at least a week and a half in intensive care, at a cost to the NHS of about £1,000 per day.

After keyhole surgery, the patient can leave the following day.

This heartening news seemed to have little calming effect on Michael yesterday morning.

He was wheeled down for his fifth operation at 10:40am. His mood, previously upbeat, was beginning to darken.

"He just wants to go home," said his mum, Alison, as her son clung dolefully from her neck.

"He hates hospitals. He's done quite well so far but now it's time for him to go down, he starts clinging on. He wants to go home."

But the Keeling family were trying to remain optimistic. All heart surgery has its risks. They know this more than most.

This new procedure – getting to their son's affected valve via keyhole surgery though his groin – was surely far preferable then cracking open his chest.

"It feels a bit weird to think that there will be so many people watching Michael's operation," mused his mum, Alison, "but the staff here are fantastic and we are sure it will go well,"

As Michael was wheeled away for his op, the Keeling family walked out of the hospital and climbed on the bus heading for Tesco.

"I've asked for a video of it and I might watch it later," said Alison, "but I didn't want to see it as they were doing it. I was too nervous."

It was probably for the best. In a lecture theatre in Glenfield hospital, Michael's shaven groin took centre stage.

"Welcome back from your coffee break," said top heart specialist Dr Philipp Bonhoeffer into his face-mic, an eager audience of his peers hanging on his every word. "Now we can start."

There followed a complicated and gory procession of prodding and poking, kneading and bleeding – there was so much blood, it looked like someone had spilled a bottle of Merlot on the operating table – and even a lighthearted question and answer session where Dr Bonhoeffer took queries from his watching audience.

Questions answered, Dr Bonhoeffer and Dr Tofeig steered the new valve in place and, voila, it was over. "Yep," he said, "I think that looks about right."

There was a spontaneous outbreak of polite applause and Michael was cleaned up and whisked away, back to the ward. The operation took less than 35 minutes.

A mile away, Alison and husband Jez were still in Tesco. "They called me to say it had finished," she said. "I could barely believe it. It was so quick."

Caught unaware and with no bus for another 20 minutes, the couple had to run back from the supermarket so they could be with their boy when he came back to the ward.

"It seems to have gone really well. This is his fifth operation and his third replacement valve" said Alison.

"But this new procedure will make such a difference to him. He would have been off school for six weeks if this was open heart surgery. We're hoping he will go back a week on Monday. The worst bit was the recovery. With this procedure, the recovery time is massively reduced."

The watching audience of heart specialists were impressed.

Dr Martyn Thomas was from Guys' and St Thomas Hospital in London.

"I thought it was excellent. This really is the frontier of interventional heart work

"This really is a new front; it's minimally invasive, no big cut in the chest and the recovery times for the patient are much improved.

"This is the future. I guess it won't happen straight away – and it won't be suitable for all patients – but this new technology will help many, many heart patients across the world. It is very important."