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US 12,137,897 B2Granted
Device for suture attachment for minimally invasive heart valve repair
AssigneeNeoChord, Inc.
InventorsLevi Caffes, Joel Helgerson, Andrew Schifle, Daryl Edmiston, Graham Garvin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed herein are minimally invasive systems and methods for intravascularly accessing the heart and performing a transcatheter repair of a heart valve by inserting a suture as an artificial chordae into a heart valve leaflet. In various embodiments, such systems and methods can be employed in other heart valve repair procedures such an edge to edge repair to coapt leaflets by inserting one or more sutures that retain the leaflets in a coapted positioned or inserting a suture to repair a tear in a leaflet, for example.
Claims23
A method of repairing a heart valve by inserting a suture in a valve leaflet of a beating heart of a patient, comprising:
- inserting a generally flexible catheter body having a proximal end and a distal end into a vasculature of the patient;
- intravascularly accessing an interior of the heart with a suture attachment assembly operably attached to the distal end of the catheter body, the suture attachment assembly including a proximal clamping jaw disposed adjacent the distal end of the catheter body, a rail having a proximal portion configured to be selectively longitudinally slideable with respect to the proximal clamping jaw and a distal portion, and a distal clamping jaw hingedly attached to the distal portion of the rail;
- operating a jaw actuator disposed on a control handle operably attached to the proximal end of the catheter body to move a flexible member extending from the jaw actuator through the catheter body to a distal surface of the distal clamping jaw to pivot the distal clamping jaw from a first delivery position to a second capture position;
- positioning the suture attachment assembly adjacent to a moving heart valve leaflet;
- operating a rail actuator to longitudinally slide the rail with respect to the proximal clamping jaw to clamp the heart valve leaflet between the proximal clamping jaw and the distal clamping jaw;
- and
- operating a needle actuator disposed on the control to slide a needle from within the catheter body to penetrate the heart valve leaflet to insert a suture through the heart valve leaflet.
4 more elements
A method of performing an edge to edge repair of a heart valve in a valve leaflet of a beating heart of a patient, comprising:
- inserting a generally flexible catheter body having a proximal end and a distal end into a vasculature of the patient;
- intravascularly accessing an interior of the heart with a suture attachment assembly operably attached to the distal end of the catheter body, the suture attachment assembly including a proximal clamping jaw disposed adjacent the distal end of the catheter body, a rail having a proximal portion configured to be selectively longitudinally slideable with respect to the proximal clamping jaw and a distal portion, and a distal clamping jaw hingedly attached to the distal portion of the rail;
- operating a jaw actuator disposed on a control handle operably attached to the proximal end of the catheter body to move a flexible member extending from the jaw actuator through the catheter body to a distal surface of the distal clamping jaw to pivot the distal clamping jaw from a first delivery position to a second capture position;
- positioning the suture attachment assembly one or more times adjacent to one or more moving heart valve leaflets;
- operating a rail actuator one or more times to longitudinally slide the rail with respect to the proximal clamping jaw to individually clamp the one or more heart valve leaflets between the proximal clamping jaw and the distal clamping jaw;
- and
- operating a needle actuator disposed on the control one or more times to slide a needle from within the catheter body to individually penetrate the one or more heart valve leaflets to insert one or more sutures through the one or more heart valve leaflets;
- and
- securing the one or more sutures to retain the one or more heart valve leaflets in a coapted position.
6 more elements
A method of performing an edge to edge repair of a heart valve in a valve leaflet of a beating heart of a patient, comprising:
- inserting a generally flexible catheter body having a proximal end and a distal end into a vasculature of the patient;
- intravascularly accessing an interior of the heart with a suture attachment assembly operably attached to the distal end of the catheter body, the suture attachment assembly including a proximal clamping jaw disposed adjacent the distal end of the catheter body, a rail having a proximal portion configured to be selectively longitudinally slideable with respect to the proximal clamping jaw and a distal portion, and a distal clamping jaw hingedly attached to the distal portion of the rail;
- operating a jaw actuator disposed on a control handle operably attached to the proximal end of the catheter body to move a flexible member extending from the jaw actuator through the catheter body to a distal surface of the distal clamping jaw to pivot the distal clamping jaw from a first delivery position to a second capture position;
- grasping a first heart valve leaflet between the proximal clamping jaw and the distal clamping jaw with the distal clamping jaw in the second capture position;
- inserting a first suture through the first heart valve leaflet with a needle disposed in the catheter body;
- grasping a second heart valve leaflet between the proximal clamping jaw and the distal clamping jaw with the distal clamping jaw in the second capture position;
- inserting a second suture through the second heart valve leaflet with a needle disposed in the catheter body;
- and
- securing the first sutures and the second suture to retain the first heart valve leaflet and the second heart valve leaflet in a coapted position.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.