Instrument port

Abstract

Instrument port for allowing access to the interior of the heart or other organ while minimizing blood loss.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 11 / 784,385, filed on Apr. 6, 2007. The entire content of the prior filed application is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The invention is in the field of surgery, more specifically in the field of minimally invasive methods for surgical procedures. In particular, the invention is directed to devices that facilitate minimally invasive access to and treatments on an area of the body or an organ. More particularly, the device is a port that facilitates access for a medical instrument to an area of the body or the inside of an organ.[0003]While the device is described herein particularly as a device to facilitate access for an instrument to the interior of the heart, it should be understood that the device can be used elsewhere in the body, to facilitate access to a variety of areas and organs.[0004]Medical procedures on the heart can be perform...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]The present invention is directed to devices and methods for accessing the interior of the heart without having to stop the heart from beating and while minimizing blood loss. The devices and methods are useful for performing endocardiac treatments. The methods rely upon access to the interior of the heart through the heart wall using an instrument port.

[0015]In a preferred method, the instrument port is implanted into the heart wall using a minimally invasive opening in the chest wall. However, the port could also be installed after a more invasive procedure to open the chest wall and access the heart, such as a gross thoracotomy. The instrument port is installed in the heart wall and allows passage of instruments therethrough into a heart chamber. The port is anchored by a sealing device which also serves to reduce blood loss from the heart.

Problems solved by technology

Percutaneous treatment has several issues that make it less than desirable.

For one thing, the catheters and tools that are used for percutaneous cardiac procedures are limited in size because they must be threaded through the vasculature into the heart.

Maneuverability of a catheter which is threaded such a long distance is limited, which means that it is difficult and sometimes impossible to locate the working end of the catheter exactly at the area in the heart where treatment is needed.

This also adds to the total length of the procedure.

Another issue with percutaneous access can be various vascular complications such as bleeding, dissection, and rupture of a blood vessel.

Moreover, some areas of the heart are simply difficult to access percutaneously.

Of course, such an invasive procedure has consequences, such as typically an extended hospital stay and an increased risk of complications and pain.

Opening up the heart surgically can only be done after placing the heart under cardioplegic arrest and maintaining circulation using cardiopulmonary bypass.

Stopping the heart invites serious complications.

However, purse-string sutures are not always effective and do not easily allow the insertion of more than one instrument through a single incision.

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