Surgical instruments for making precise incisions in a cardiac vessel

Abstract

Abstract Surgical instruments and methods for making substantially linear incisions, especially through the wall of vessels, such as arteries, specifically designed for coronary artery bypass graft procedures (CABG) on the beating heart. The invention is particularly useful to create the incision in the artery to which a bypass graft is sewn, typically the left anterior descending artery (LAD). The instruments allow incisions to be rapidly made, precisely measured, and cleanly formed so that a bypass graft can be rapidly sewn in place, without undue trauma to surrounding tissue and excessive loss of blood. In one embodiment, a hand-held instrument has a cutting edge formed on the interior edge of a curved blade fixed near the end of the instrument. The tip of the blade has a point for penetrating the vessel wall which may have several alternate shapes to facilitate penetration of the vessel wall while minimizing trauma to the surrounding tissue. In another embodiment the hand-held instrument includes a moveable member which creates an incision by engaging a cutting blade against a stop, cutting tissue therebetween, the stop including a pointed tip similar to the previous embodiment. In another embodiment, the instrument features a motion-canceling member which compensates for the movement of the target surface to be incised. This embodiment has a cutting blade which is manipulated from a handle which is isolated from the movement of the tissue containing or proximate to the target of the incision.

Inventors

• 👤 Charles S. Taylor
• 👤 John J. Frantzen
• 👤 Ivan Sepetka

Bibliographic Details