Method and apparatus for temporarily immobilizing a local area of tissue

Abstract

The invention is a method and apparatus for performing beating heart surgery, in which a single articulating arm supports multiple suction pods. Once the suction pods are applied to the heart surface, tightening a cable fixes the arm in place. Then, the suction pods may be spread apart from each other to tighten the surface of the cardiac tissue lying between the suction pods. In one embodiment, fixation of the arm as well as the spreading apart of the suction pods may occur concurrently or almost concurrently through the tensioning of a single cable. Additional embodiments of the method, system and its components are shown.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10 / 099,177 filed Mar. 13, 2002, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09 / 396,047 filed Sep. 15, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,629, which claims priority from provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 100,443 filed Sep. 15, 1998, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention generally relates to surgery on body tissues and organs. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for temporarily immobilizing a local area of tissue subject to motion, such as the heart wall, which permits a surgical procedure to be performed on that local area of tissue. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Coronary artery disease remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Western societies. Coronary artery disease is manifested in a number of ways. For example, disease of the coronary arteries c...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Coronary artery disease remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Western societies.

For example, disease of the coronary arteries can lead to insufficient blood flow to various areas of the heart.

This can lead to the discomfort of angina and the risk of ischemia.

In severe cases, acute blockage of coronary blood flow can result in irreversible damage to the myocardial tissue including myocardial infarction and the risk of death.

In cases where these approaches have failed or are likely to fail, it is often necessary to perform a coronary artery bypass graft procedure.

The arrest or stoppage of the heart is generally required because the constant pumping motion of the beating heart would make surgery upon the heart difficult in some locations and extremely difficult if not impossible in other locations Once cardiac arrest is achieved, then a graft (or grafts) is attached to the relevant portions of a coronary artery (or arteries) followed by weaning from the cardiopulmonary bypass, restarting the heart and decannulation.

One area which may create difficulties for the patient and extra expense and time for the procedure involves the cardiopulmonary bypass.

Problems may develop during cardiopulmonary bypass due to the reaction blood has to non-endothelially lined surfaces, i.e. surfaces unlike those of a blood vessel.

This may, in turn, increase the risk of hemorrhage.

Mechanical fork systems only operate successfully on vessels that can be immobilized by applying pressure in a downward direction.

However, fork systems are limited in their ability to maneuver a vessel into better view or for operating on the posterior portion of the heart.

That is, fork systems are limited in their ability to “present” a vessel to the surgeon.

This is a even greater drawback since fork systems stabilize only through compression, therefore often pushing downwards the are of surgical interest.

In addition, compression of the heart can lead to diminished cardiac output, presenting a further risk to the patient's well-being.

Finally, such systems, to date, have often featured rigid, inflexible arms which often interfere with the view or movements or both of the surgeon.

For example, such a system was relatively more cumbersome to set up than desired, requiring each stabilization arm to be individually fixed or immobilized.

Moreover, because each arm worked individually, spreading the arms relatively apart was more difficult than desired.

Finally, because the degree of spreading was not limited in any way, surgeons could spread the paddles apart at greater distance than desired, causing one or both paddles to spontaneously lose capture of the tissue.

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