Preventing heart attacks and stroke can involve extensive surgery to remove plaque from your arteries, but as FOX17's Nick Paranjape shows us, there's a new procedure in Middle Tennessee that is less invasive and substantially cuts down on your recovery time. At 76, Jimmy Wilkie of Hendersonville exercises on his treadmill 3-4 times a week. Recently, he started having pain in his left leg. It was so bad, he couldn't even walk. Turned out, Mr. Wilkie had a blocked artery in his leg. In years past, this would've required major bypass surgery. Not anymore!

"The Turbohawk Catheter has really opened a new door for us," says Dr. Dan Wunder.

Dr. Wunder, an Interventional Radiologist at Premier Radiology in Madison, is talking about the Turbohawk. It's a device which is inserted into the blocked artery, and inside the Turbohawk are 4 tiny blades.

"It can cut the plaque and with that shape of the disc it cuts with it pushes it forward into the catheter," says Dr. Wunder.

The one-hour procedure doesn't just push the plaque to the sides where it can re-grow, but instead grabs it and removes it!

"We pull it back out and it fills up," says Dr. Wunder. "Empty it out, go back down and we can cut some more out."

Before and after images really say it all.

"They used a roto rooter as he called it," says Wilkie.

A roto rooter, Turbohawk, call it what you want, but Wilkie says all he knows is the procedure worked right away!

"There wasn't any pain at all in my leg," says Wilkie.

It's rare, but the outpatient procedure can have complications like plaque getting pushed down in the leg. Dr. Wunder says the main symptoms of a blockage in your legs is having severe pain or cramping when you're walking or exercising.SPECIAL REPORT: Plaque Removal