Apical Instrument Port

Abstract

The invention is directed to a method of treating a patient's heart. In this method an instrument port is secured within a passageway through a wall of an apical region of the patient's heart to allow the passage of a treatment instrument. A number of minimally invasive procedures may be performed within the patient's heart

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 12 / 006,967, filed Jan. 8, 2008, which is a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 11,784,385, filed on Apr. 6, 2007, which is a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 10 / 313,198, filed on Dec. 6, 2002 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,373,207), which is a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 10 / 295,390, filed on Nov. 15, 2002 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,978,176) which is related to and claims priority from provisional applications, Ser. No. 60 / 340,062, filed Dec. 8, 2001, Ser. No. 60 / 365,918, filed Mar. 20, 2002 and Ser. No. 60 / 369,988, filed Apr. 4, 2002. All of these applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The invention is generally directed to the field of minimally invasive methods of surgical procedures and particularly, to such procedures with an instrument port that facilitates access for a medical instrument into the interior of a patie...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is about devices and methods for accessing the interior of the heart without stopping the heart from beating and minimizing blood loss. The devices and methods are useful for performing endocardiac treatments. The invention involves the implantation of an instrument port into the heart wall using a minimally invasive opening in the chest wall or after a more invasive procedure to open the chest wall. The instrument port allows passage of instruments therethrough into a heart chamber and also serves to reduce blood loss from the heart. The invention provides a way to perform various procedures such as repairing heart valves, delivering stem cells, and forming ablation lesions. The invention allows for safer and less invasive treatment of heart conditions."

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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