Device to permit offpump beating heart coronary bypass surgery
AssigneeMaquet Cardiovascular LLC
InventorsPaul Spence, Warren Williamson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A heart retractor links lifting of the heart and regional immobilization which stops one part of the heart from moving to allow expeditious suturing while permitting other parts of the heart to continue to function whereby coronary surgery can be performed on a beating heart while maintaining cardiac output unabated and uninterrupted. Circumflex coronary artery surgery can be performed using the heart retractor of the present invention. The retractor includes a plurality of flexible arms and a plurality of rigid arms as well as a surgery target immobilizing element. One form of the retractor can be sued in minimally invasive surgery, while other forms of the retractor can accommodate variations in heart size and paracardial spacing.
Claims23
1-31. (canceled)
A heart positioning device for use in cardiac surgery on a beating heart, comprising:
- a suction head adapted to positively engage the beating heart said suction head including at least one suction element adapted to engage the surface of the heart by suction;
- and
- an arm supporting said suction head, said arm being rigid or configurable to rigid in a locked condition;
- wherein said suction head is releasably attachable to the beating heart, and when said suction head is positively engaged with the beating heart, and said arm is stationary relative to the beating heart to orient the beating heart in an unnatural position or orientation, the beating heart continues to beat.
A method of positioning a beating heart in preparation for performing a surgical procedure on the beating heart or a vessel associated therewith, said method comprising the steps of:
- engaging the heart with a head of a heart positioning device;
- repositioning the heart into a displaced position;
- maintaining the heart in the displaced position, while allowing cardiac output to be maintained substantially unabated and uninterrupted, by fixing an arm of the heart positioning device in a stationary position relative to the beating heart, while allowing movement of the head of the heart positioning device, relative to the arm.
The method of claim 53, wherein the relatively stationary object is a sternal retractor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.