Surgical device for connecting soft tissue
AssigneeEvalve, Inc.
InventorJacques SEGUIN
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention comprises a surgical instrument including an external tube (2) and two elongated members (4) positioned in said tube (2), each of which includes a distal end (10a) for capturing one of the two tissue zones (M1, M2) to be attached. The instrument (1) may further comprise a catching member (22, 25) for each tissue (M1, M2) to be attached; a rod (15, 16) linked to each catching member (22, 25) enabling tension to move axially, said rod (15, 16) being separable from said catching member (22, 25) when a tension is exerted on it beyond a certain threshold; and a member (17a) forming a stop for locking axially each catching member (22, 25) during said tension.
Claims7
A method for percutaneously attaching valve leaflets, said method comprising:
- percutaneously introducing a device through a patient's vasculature into a heart chamber;
- capturing a first valve leaflet by applying a vacuum to the device;
- capturing a second valve leaflet by applying a vacuum to the device, wherein the second valve leaflet is captured separately from the first valve leaflet;
- drawing the first and second captured leaflets together;
- and
- attaching the first valve leaflet to the second valve leaflet.
A system for repairing a cardiac valve, said system comprising:
- a tube suitable for introduction through a patient's vasculature and into a chamber of a heart;
- a clipping system comprising a first element adapted to be brought up beneath a pair of valve leaflets from the ventricular side and a second element adapted to be brought down over the pair of valve leaflets from the atrial side, wherein the first element engages the ventricular side of both leaflets and the second element engages the atrial side of both the leaflets to capture both leaflets therebetween and wherein the first and second elements may be left to attach the free edges of the leaflets together;
- and
- a pair of elongate elements each having trumpeted distal extremities, the pair of elongate elements extensible from a distal end of the tube, wherein each trumpeted distal extremity is adapted to grasp a valve leaflet when vacuum is applied thereto, wherein attaching comprises clipping the leaflets together.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.