66 year old Alan Beason went for a ct scan to check one problem and found out he had another more serious problem called abdominal aortic aneurysm.

It had gotten large enough that it needed to be removed and fast.

90% of abdominal aortic aneurysms happen below the kidneys, but can show up in other places throughout the body.

Vascular Surgeon Patrick Tamim says "A lot of aneurysms can be easily picked up on a good examination just your primary doctor feeling your belly in the aorta.. if it's enlarged we can get an ultra sound study.

In the past, surgery to remove an aneurysm involved a large incision in the belly.

That was followed by several days in the I.C.U., another week in the hospital and at least 8 weeks for a full recovery.

That changed 12 years ago when surgeons started using endovascular devices.

"Dr. Tamim says We were able to actually just open up the groin..expose the arteries directly and put one of the devices like this into the abdomen and deploy an endograph which is essentially by-passing the arteries from within."

Now Dr. Tamim says he's found a way to make it even less invasive.

"Within this year the devices have gotten small enough where I'm comfortable doing this completely through the skin without having to make any cuts other than just the puncture sights in the patients groin.

The device is shaped like a y. It's designed to go in just below the kidneys arteries arteries in the aorta.

Eight weeks after the surgery Beason says he's back to his old self.

In fact he was performing his normal duties in a couple of days.

"Probably could have done it a little quicker than that but I was a little on the lazy side says Beason.

Triple A's, as they are called, are more common in people 65 to 75 and 4 times more frequent in men and smokers.