Closed chest cannulation method and device for atrial-major artery bypass

An obturator device for facilitating the introduction of a cannula into the left ventricle of a patient's heart via the aortic valve using a trans-arterial insertion technique wherein the cannula is passed over a catheter having an outside diameter which substantially corresponds to the inside diameter of the cannula and a length and which catheter has been previously inserted into the left ventricle, said device comprising:

• an internal obturator for insertion into the catheter to stiffen same whereby the internal obturator and catheter, together, may be used as a guide to facilitate introduction of the cannula into the left ventricle, said internal obturator having a proximal end and a distal end, with the distal end terminating in a blunt curved portion to facilitate passage of the internal obturator through tortuous segments of the patient's arterial system as it is passed to the left ventricle, and wherein the proximal end of the internal obturator terminates in an enlarged section having an outside diameter substantially corresponding to the outside diameter of the catheter, whereby, when said internal obturator is inserted into the catheter and the enlarged section of said internal obturator is brought into abutting relation with the catheter, there results a substantially continuous uniform outside diameter traveling from the enlarged section of said internal obturator to the catheter so that the cannula may easily pass from the enlarged portion of said internal obturator to the catheter with a minimum of interference, said internal obturator further including a circular barb located between the enlarged section at the proximal end and the blunt curved portion at the distal end for retaining the catheter in abutting relation with the enlarged section during insertion of the cannula and subsequent removal of the catheter together with said internal obturator following cannula insertion, and wherein, said internal obturator has a length relative to the catheter length so that when said internal obturator is inserted in the catheter, the blunt curved portion terminates within the catheter about 1 centimeter before the catheter itself terminates within the patient's left ventricle;
• said device further comprising an external obturator having an external diameter which substantially corresponds to the external diameter of the enlarged section of said internal obturator for passage of the cannula thereover;
• and
• releasable attachment means for releasably attaching the external obturator to the proximal end of the internal obturator.