Facilitating tools for cardiac tissue ablation

Abstract

Methods and devices are provided for positioning a device around the pulmonary veins of a heart to treat atrial fibrillation. One method includes the steps of guiding a first elongate member through the transverse sinus, guiding a second elongate member through the oblique sinus, connecting a distal end of the first elongate member to a distal end of the second elongate member, and removing one of the first and second elongate members to position the other of the first and second elongate members around the pulmonary veins. In another exemplary embodiment, a method is disclosed that includes a step of guiding a elongate member through the transverse sinus superior to the right superior pulmonary vein and the left superior pulmonary vein of a patient's heart, and then along the pericardial sac wall and through the pericardial reflection inferior to the left inferior pulmonary vein and the right inferior pulmonary vein to extend out of the patient's heart such that the elongate member encircles the pulmonary veins. Ablative energy can then be delivered to form a lesion encircling the pulmonary veins. Kits of facilitating tools and ablation instruments are also disclosed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.