TAVR Ventricular Catheter

A method of positioning an x-ray C-arm in coplanar alignment with an aortic valve, the method comprising:

• advancing a guide wire into a patient's aorta, across the patient's aortic valve annulus, and into the patient's left ventricle cavity;
• advancing an undeployed catheter along the guide wire into a patient's aorta, across the patient's aortic valve annulus, and into the patient's left ventricle cavity;
• retracting the guide wire until the undeployed catheter deploys to form a deployed catheter, the deployed catheter comprising
• a distal ring approximating the size and shape of a patient's aortic valve annulus, the distal ring comprising a radiopaque outer surface and a plurality of openings for dispersing contrast medium;
• and
• a substantially straight upper shaft connecting to the distal ring via a plurality of curves, the upper shaft disposed substantially perpendicularly to the distal ring, the distal ring, the upper shaft and the plurality of curves all formed unitarily from a resilient hollow tube;
• retracting the deployed catheter until the deployed catheter snugly contacts the patient's aortic valve annulus;
• injecting radio opaque fluid into the deployed catheter;
• positioning the C-arm using images of the distal ring.