Methods, devices and systems for approximation and fastening of soft tissue

A device for approximating and fastening tissue comprising:

• a longitudinal tube assembly, a proximal handle assembly, a distal tool assembly actuatable from the handle assembly, and an operator-actuated control feature on the handle assembly capable of moving moveable arms from a collapsed configuration to an expanded configuration and retracting the moveable arms, wherein:
• the distal tool assembly comprises at least two moveable arms, each movable arm has a tissue engagement mechanism located at a distal end and a reduced cross section region positioned proximal of the tissue engagement mechanism, each tissue engagement mechanism is capable of retracting tissue at a contacted tissue site, and the moveable arms are adjustable between the collapsed configuration in which they are positioned inside the elongate shaft assembly and the expanded pre-shaped configuration in which they extend beyond and away from the distal tool assembly, thereby positioning each tissue engagement mechanism to contact and selectively retract a tissue site spaced-apart from another tissue site;
• the longitudinal tool assembly comprises a retainer ring having slots through which the moveable arms pass, and at least one slot surface is configured to provide one-way motion features in cooperation with at least a portion of a surface of each moveable arm;
• and the control feature engages a ratcheting-type one-way motion mechanism during retraction of the moveable arms capable of applying sufficient tensile forces to fracture the moveable arms at reduced cross section regions at a pre-determined force value and releasing the now-joined together moveable arms and retainer ring assembly to fasten the retracted tissue sites to one another.

A device for approximating and fastening tissue comprising:

• a longitudinal tube assembly, a proximal handle assembly, and a distal tool assembly actuatable from the handle assembly, wherein:
• the distal tool assembly comprises a proximal tissue hook and a distal tissue hook slidably connected to one another and adjustable between a collapsed configuration and an expanded spaced-apart configuration;
• the proximal tissue hook is releasably attached to the distal end of the longitudinal tube assembly and the distal tissue hook is positioned at the distal end of a moveable shaft and operably connected to the proximal handle assembly;
• the moveable shaft has a reduced cross section region at a position proximal to the proximal tissue hook when in a collapsed configuration;
• and at least a portion of each contacting slidable surface between the moveable shaft and the proximal tissue hook is configured having mating one-way motion features that, upon retraction of the moveable shaft by the handle assembly engages a ratcheting one-way motion mechanism capable of applying sufficient tensile forces to fracture the moveable shaft at the reduced cross section region at a pre-determined force value, releasing the now-joined together tissue hooks assembly to fasten the retracted tissue sites to one another.