Heart stabilizer

• US 20050043717A1
• Filed: 07/14/2004
• Published: 02/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Computer Motion Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Inventors: Snow, Edward Ramsey
• Granted Patent: US 7,217,240 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/02 for holding wounds open; Tractors specula A61B1/32 ; drainage appliances for wounds A61M27/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0243 for immobilizing local areas of the heart, e.g. while it beats trocars attached to inner organs or inner body tissue A61B2017/3488
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/306 holding by means of suction

Abstract

A heart stabilizer that may include a wrist which couples an end effector to a first linkage. The end effector and wrist may be inserted through an incision in the chest of a patient to assist in performing a minimally invasive coronary procedure. The wrist provides dexterity so that the end effector can be placed on the heart to stabilize the same. The end effector may include a pair of paddles that are moved between open and closed positions by a pair of manually actuated levers. The paddles may have cleats that allow sutures to be attached to the stabilizer during a minimally invasive procedure.

Claims

1. A heart stabilizer, comprising:

an end effector;

a first linkage;

a wrist that couples said first linkage to said end effector; and

,

a manually actuated lever that is coupled to said end effector.