Minimally-invasive procedure for monitoring a physiological parameter within an internal organ

A minimally-invasive surgical procedure for placing a sensing device through a wall of an internal organ of a living body to sense a physiological parameter in an internal cavity of the organ, the procedure comprising:

• making a first incision in the living body to enable access to the internal organ;
• inserting an instrument through the first incision and making a second incision therewith through an external wall of the organ from an outer surface of the external wall and into the internal cavity thereof;
• placing a sensing unit in the second incision such that a distal end of the sensing unit is within the external wall or extends into the internal cavity and a proximal end of the sensing unit is outside the organ and exterior of the external wall thereof, the sensing unit consisting essentially of a sensing device and an anchor to which the sensing device is secured, the sensing device having a distal end disposed at the distal end of the sensing unit and a sensing element that is disposed at the distal end of the sensing device and adapted to sense the physiological parameter within the internal cavity, the anchor comprising a distal portion that has arms and a proximal portion that has legs and defines the proximal end of the sensing unit, the distal portion of the sensing device and the distal portion of the anchor and the arms thereof being inserted through the second incision during the placing step, the proximal portion of the anchor and the legs thereof not being inserted into the second incision during the placing step but instead being external to the organ following the placing step;
• securing the anchor to the external wall of the organ such that the sensing device is secured within the second incision by only the anchor, the sensing element is exposed to the internal cavity, the second incision is occluded by only the sensing unit, the arms of the distal portion radially expand outward to engage tips of the arms with an inner surface of the external wall of the organ, and the legs of the proximal portion of the anchor radially expand outward to engage tips of the legs with the outer surface of the external wall of the organ so that the tips of the arms and the tips of the legs clamp the external wall therebetween as a result of the securing step;
• closing the first incision;
• and then
• telemetrically communicating with the sensing device to obtain a reading of the physiological parameter using a readout device located outside the living body.