A man who has suffered from angina for 25 years says a new treatment has changed his life.

Peter Bridges, 77, from Great Easton, near Corby in Northamptonshire, is one of the first people in the county to undergo Coronary Sinus Reducer implantation.

The procedure was previously only performed in specialist cardiac hospitals, but is now also possible at Kettering General.

Mr Bridges said he was now enjoying “a life I never imagined I would have in my later years”.

Mr Bridges said he first noticed symptoms of his angina in 1999.

“I could be on the phone and it could attack me, I could be reading a book or sleeping soundly,” he said.

“You feel this stabbing pain in your chest.”

Mr Bridges suffers from a severe form of the disease called refractory angina, which is caused by the heart not receiving enough blood.

As a result, he could no longer practice his favorite sport and his family life was restricted.

He had 16 coronary stents – short tubes that widen blocked arteries – fitted in Kettering and underwent triple bypass surgery in Leicester.

The breakthrough came when he was offered the opportunity to be one of the first in the country to have a coronary sinus reducer implanted.

Dr Prashanth Raju, clinical director of cardiology at Kettering General, said: “This is a new procedure for Northamptonshire and has traditionally only been performed in specialist cardiac hospitals.”

“A small flexible catheter is guided under X-ray control through the jugular vein in the neck into the right side of the heart – and then an hourglass-shaped stent made of stainless steel is inserted into the main coronary sinus.

“After about twelve weeks, when the stent is completely covered with cells and healed, the patient should notice the first benefits.”

A total of 12 patients were operated on in Kettering, and three more are planned for August.

It has been several months since Mr Bridges’s operation and he remembers it was during a family trip to East Carlton Country Park that he realised what a difference the operation had made.

“I played with the grandchildren, was able to run around and go to the playground with them, and that was a very important day for me,” he said.

“I’m enjoying a life I never imagined I’d have in my later years, and it’s all thanks to this little thing that looks a bit like a tiny hour timer.”