Ventricular assist device and method

A method of providing mechanical assistance to a failing heart comprising the steps of

• making an incision in the upper abdomen inferior to the xiphoid process and medial to the border of the left coastal arch;
• inserting an introducer tube through the abdominal incision;
• guiding the introducer tube to a position proximate to the medial aspect of the heart apex;
• illuminating a portion of the pericardium proximate to the medial aspect of the heart apex and forming on a monitor an image of said portion;
• making an incision in said portion of the pericardium;
• providing in collapsed condition a bladder assembly having walls of flexible material, the bladder assembly being of a size and shape adapted to be engageable exclusively with a substantial portion of the outer surface of the left ventricle of a heart and having a distal edge of a length adapted to extend around the heart proximate to the atrio-ventricular groove through an angle of from about 180 degrees to about 270 degrees from one end near the pulmonary artery to another end near the inferior vena cava and the bladder assembly being adapted to be passed in a collapsed condition through the incision in the pericardium to a position between the pericardial sac and the epicardium, the bladder assembly having a first bladder having an inner wall engageable with the heart, a second bladder attached to and substantially coextensive with the first bladder, at least one wall of the first bladder being substantially non-extensible so as to provide dimensional stability to the bladder assembly circumferentially and axially of the heart, a first tube attached to the first bladder, and a second tube attached to the second bladder;
• moving the collapsed bladder assembly through the pericardial incision and guiding it along the heart to a predetermined position;
• deploying the collapsed bladder to engage it with the left ventricle;
• introducing a fluid material into the second bladder through the second tube, the fluid material being capable of making the second bladder semi-rigid;
• and
• repeatedly pumping a gas under pressure into the bladder and withdrawing the gas from the bladder to compress and release the left ventricle.