SAGINAW, MI — Keith Peters didn't look at the picture of the 9-inch blood clot that was in his heart.

He doesn’t want to, either.

In April, Dr. Safwan Kassas and his medical team at Covenant HealthCare in Saginaw removed the rope-like clot and repaired a hole in Peters' heart.

The 57-year-old Port Austin resident didn’t know he had a hole in his heart or a blood clot. Covenant's health professionals found that clot during his stay that started Feb. 24; he was hospitalized for another health problem.

The clot, located in his heart and lungs, had the ability to move anywhere throughout his body and cause a stroke or heart attack, Kassas said.

"It was another hurdle I had to go through instead of dying," Peters said.

For the procedure, Kassas said, he had to look beyond the traditional means of treating a blood clot, which include medication and open heart surgery.

The hole meant Kassas performed two procedures at once, a more than 2-hour process. He used an 8-millimeter instrument about the size of a pencil called a Vortex AngioVac Cannula to go through a vein near the patient's groin, removing the clot in one piece and closing the hole that had been in Peters' heart since birth.

There was no room for error, Kassas said, but it proved safe and effective.

"This procedure is not an everyday procedure. This procedure is for special circumstances, the difficult cases," Kassas said. "It does work. It is safe and it is doable."

The instrument is only a few months old, Kassas said.

According to Vortex Medical, a company focused on developing devices for surgical procedures, this is the first time this procedure has been done in Michigan and the greater U.S. in the presence of a hole in the heart, called a patent foramen ovale.

The recovery from the procedure, Peters said, went well. It wasn't painful.

After six or seven hours, he was able to sit up and get into a chair.

Peters has been home since May 16. He's on sick leave from his job as a cook at Shaggy J's Eatery and Pub.

"I feel real good," Peters said. "I'm very happy with Dr. Kassis and the work he did."

Follow reporter Lindsay Knake on twitter or contact her at 989-372-2498 or lknake@mlive.com.