Methods and apparatus for repairing heart valves

Abstract

A method for treating a patient includes delivering a distal portion of an elongate medical device into a ventricle of a beating closed heart of a subject via a primary skin opening and a secondary puncture, utilizing the distal portion of the elongate medical device to engage a plurality of chordae tendineae extending from a first papillary muscle within the ventricle, at least a first one of the plurality of chordae tendineae attached to a first leaflet of an atrioventricular valve located between the ventricle and an adjacent atrium, and at least a second one of the plurality of chordae tendineae attached to a second leaflet of the atrioventricular valve, approximating the engaged plurality of chordae tendineae to increase an amount of closure possible between the first leaflet and the second leaflet, and locking the plurality of chordae tendineae in their approximated condition.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.