Device for heart repair

A method of manufacturing an anchor for implantation in body tissue in combination with a line, the method comprising:

• laser cutting a single tube comprising an elastic material to form the anchor with:
• a plurality of hooks for engagement with the body tissue, wherein the anchor comprises a folded position and an unfolded position, the anchor can be elastically deformed into the folded position by application of a constraining force and the anchor will return to the unfolded position when no constraining force is applied;
• and
• a locking mechanism for clamping the line when no force is applied, and being elastically deformable to release the line from the locking mechanism for adjustment of a length of the line, wherein the locking mechanism comprises a resiliently deformable locking segment formed in a wall of the anchor and divided from the wall by at least one slit wherein the resiliently deformable locking segment comprises a band with parallel slits on two sides, such that the band is configured to move out of a plane with the wall to open the parallel slits;
• wherein the anchor comprises a tubular body section defining said wall of the anchor;
• wherein said wall includes the resiliently deformable locking segment;
• wherein the plurality of hooks extends from one end of the tubular body section;
• wherein the at least one slit is configured to enable the line to be looped one or more times through the at least one slit;
• and
• wherein the locking mechanism, tubular body section and plurality of hooks are formed of the same tube comprising the elastic material;
• and
• electropolishing the anchor after the laser cutting.

An anchor for implantation in heart tissue in combination with a line, the anchor comprising:

• a tubular body section, the tubular body section including an exterior side wall, the exterior side wall defining a plurality of annular sections;
• a deformable locking mechanism configured to clamp the line when no force is applied and to release the line from the deformable locking mechanism for adjustment of a length of the line when force is applied, the deformable locking mechanism comprises a resiliently deformable locking segment of the exterior side wall and is positioned between two locking annular sections of the plurality of annular sections of the exterior side wall;
• and
• a plurality of hooks extending from one end of the tubular body section, the plurality of hook configured to engage with body tissue, wherein:
• the anchor is configured to be adjusted into a folded position and an unfolded position, and
• the anchor is configured to transition from the folded position into the unfolded position when no constraining force is applied;
• a slit is defined in the exterior side wall while the resiliently deformable locking segment is deformed;
• the slit is configured to enable the line to be looped one or more times through the slit;
• and
• the tubular body section, the deformable locking mechanism and the plurality of hooks comprise a single, unitary structure comprising an elastic material.