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Thorascopic heart valve repair method and apparatus

  • US 8,968,338 B2
  • Filed: 02/19/2010
  • Issued: 03/03/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2005
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. An instrument for repairing a heart valve comprising:

  • a shaft for insertion through a chest wall and into a heart chamber;

    a movable element mounted on a distal end of the shaft and being operable from an extrathoracic end of the shaft to capture and hold a valve leaflet against the distal end of the shaft;

    a suture disposed in the distal end of the shaft;

    a needle mechanism mounted on the distal end of the shaft and being operable from the extrathoracic end of the shaft to penetrate through a captured valve leaflet and draw the suture back through the valve leaflet;

    a plurality of fiber optic channels extending longitudinally through the shaft and terminating generally parallel with each other at the distal end of the shaft, each fiber optic channel containing;

    an illumination fiber optic that extends through the channel and has a distal end that terminates adjacent the distal end of the shaft; and

    a sensor fiber optic that extends through the channel and has a distal end that terminates adjacent the distal end of the shaft,wherein the distal ends of the fiber optics are positioned such that light is conveyed to the valve leaflet through the illumination fiber optic and reflected back through the sensor fiber optic of each channel to provide a plurality of distinct and independent indications presented for simultaneous observation of whether the valve leaflet is captured against the distal end of the shaft with the movable element, wherein the plurality of distinct and independent indications each comprise a colored dot, and wherein each channel corresponds to one of the colored dots.

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