Mitral Valve Annulus Plication via Percutaneous Tissue Anchors
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical procedures for treating mitral regurgitation often require invasive open heart surgery, posing significant risks to patients, and there is a need for a less invasive method to reduce the size of the mitral valve orifice while restoring its functional geometry.
Innovation Solution
The method involves securing tissue anchors to the posterior and anterior portions of the mitral valve annulus and applying tension to a tensile member between them, which reduces the size of the valve orifice by pulling the posterior portion towards the anterior portion, thereby reducing mitral regurgitation without the need for open heart surgery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If open heart surgery is performed to repair the mitral valve, then the mitral regurgitation can be effectively treated and the valve geometry restored, but the patient faces significant surgical risks and the procedure becomes highly invasive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces tissue anchors and tensile members as intermediary devices that can be deployed percutaneously to plicate the mitral valve annulus. These intermediaries enable the repair function previously requiring open surgery to be achieved through minimally invasive catheter-based delivery, thus resolving the contradiction between effective repair and reduced surgical risk
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical open heart surgical system with a percutaneous delivery system that uses catheters, guide wires, and deployable anchors. This substitution maintains the mechanical plication function while eliminating the need for sternotomy and cardiopulmonary bypass, thereby reducing invasiveness while preserving repair effectiveness
2Shape
If traditional annuloplasty surgery is performed to reduce the mitral valve orifice size, then the valve geometry is restored to functional configuration, but the procedure requires open heart surgery which increases patient risk
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the annuloplasty procedure into discrete segments: deployment of individual tissue anchors at specific annular locations, sequential tensioning of tensile members, and staged plication of the annulus. This segmentation allows the geometric restoration to be achieved through multiple small interventions rather than one large open surgery, reducing patient risk while maintaining shape correction
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs preliminary actions by first deploying tissue anchors at predetermined locations on the mitral annulus before applying tension to plicate the tissue. The anchors are positioned and secured in advance, allowing controlled gradual reduction of the orifice size while maintaining valve geometry, thereby enabling minimally invasive correction of valve shape
Data Source
AI summary
A distal end of a guide catheter is transvascularly advanced into a left ventricle of a heart of a subject. While the distal end of the guide catheter remains disposed in the left ventricle, a first tissue anchor of an implant is deployed from the distal end of the guide catheter. Subsequently, the guide catheter is retracted while progressively exposing the implant. Subsequently, a second tissue anchor of the implant is anchored to a posterior annulus of a mitral valve of the heart by deploying at least part of the second anchor within a left atrium of the heart, such that the implant extends from the first tissue anchor, over an atrial side of a posterior leaflet of the mitral valve, and to the second tissue anchor. Other embodiments are also described.