Method and apparatus for using vagus nerve stimulation in surgery
First Claim
1. A method for performing coronary artery bypass graft surgery on a patient'"'"'s beating heart, wherein a fluid communicating graft is made between an arterial blood supply and the coronary artery distal from a stenosis, comprising the steps of:
- locating a position on the patient'"'"'s vagus nerve that, when electrically stimulated, will cause a momentary stoppage or substantial reduction in the beating of the patient'"'"'s heart; and
applying an electrical stimulation to the position on the patient'"'"'s vagus nerve at least once during the construction of the fluid communicating graft to cause the momentary stoppage or substantial reduction in the beating to facilitate construction of the graft.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for facilitating coronary surgery on the beating heart wherein the vagus nerve is electrically stimulated to purposely temporarily stop or substantially reduce the beating of the heart under precisely controlled conditions. The apparatus controllably applies the electrical stimulus to preselected locations along the vagus nerve and thus to preselected nerve branches related to the heart. The apparatus includes several clip and probe configurations for establishing electrical contact with the vagus nerve. Such purposely caused temporary stoppage or substantial reduction of the beating of the heart facilitates procedures such as suturing of an anastomosis which would otherwise be more difficult because of the motion induced by the beating heart.
591 Citations
59 Claims
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1. A method for performing coronary artery bypass graft surgery on a patient'"'"'s beating heart, wherein a fluid communicating graft is made between an arterial blood supply and the coronary artery distal from a stenosis, comprising the steps of:
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locating a position on the patient'"'"'s vagus nerve that, when electrically stimulated, will cause a momentary stoppage or substantial reduction in the beating of the patient'"'"'s heart; and applying an electrical stimulation to the position on the patient'"'"'s vagus nerve at least once during the construction of the fluid communicating graft to cause the momentary stoppage or substantial reduction in the beating to facilitate construction of the graft. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for performing coronary artery bypass graft surgery on a patient'"'"'s beating heart, wherein a selected surgical procedure is performed to provide a fluid communicating graft, comprising the step of:
momentarily arresting or substantially slowing the beating of the patient'"'"'s heart for a precisely controlled period of time without the need for cardiopulmonary bypass support to provide access to the stopped or slowed heart to facilitate performing the selected surgical procedure. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. Apparatus for performing coronary artery bypass graft surgery on a patient'"'"'s beating heart, wherein a selected surgical procedure is performed on the patient, comprising:
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means for supplying an electrical stimulating signal during the selected surgical procedure; and means responsive to the supplying means for momentarily arresting or substantially slowing the patient'"'"'s heart for a controllable period of time during the selected surgical procedure without the need for cardiopulmonary bypass support. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A system for performing a selected surgical procedure on a patient'"'"'s beating heart, comprising:
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means for providing at least one opening in the patient'"'"'s chest which provides access to the heart and surrounding tissues and vessels, comprising a coronary artery; means for providing access to a vagus nerve of the patient; means for supplying a vagus nerve stimulating electrical signal; and means detachably attached to the vagus nerve and responsive to the supplying means for temporarily applying the stimulating signal to the vagus nerve to temporarily stop or substantially reduce the beating of the heart during the selected surgical procedure without need for cardiopulmonary bypass support. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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59. A method of performing coronary artery bypass graft surgery on a patient'"'"'s beating heart, wherein a fluid communicating graft is made between an arterial blood supply and the coronary artery, comprising the steps of:
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providing at least one opening in the patient'"'"'s chest which provides access to the arterial blood supply and the coronary artery, and to the vagus nerve; forming an anastomosis between the arterial blood supply and the coronary artery; electrically stimulating the vagus nerve during the step of forming the anastomosis to momentarily stop or substantially slow the beating of the heart; performing at least one suturing step of the anastomosis during the momentary stop or substantially slow beating of the heart; and repeating the steps of electrically stimulating and performing at least one suturing step until the anastomosis is completed.
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Specification