Patent ID: 11857415
Assignee: EDWARDS LIFESCIENCES INNOVATION (ISRAEL) LTD.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 11:
12. A system for facilitating transluminal access to a heart of a subject, the system comprising:
a first catheter:
shaped to define a first lumen therealong,
having a first-catheter proximal portion, and
having a steerable first-catheter distal portion that is transluminally advanceable to the heart, and a first coupling proximal from the first-catheter distal portion;

a second catheter:
shaped to define a second lumen therealong,
having a second-catheter proximal portion,
having a steerable second-catheter distal portion, and a second coupling proximal from the second-catheter distal portion

a first handle, coupled to the first-catheter proximal portion and oriented obliquely away from the first-catheter proximal portion at a nonzero angle with respect to the longitudinal axis;
a second handle, coupled to the second-catheter proximal portion, and disposed proximally from the first handle;
an annuloplasty structure comprising an elongated contracting member;
a plurality of tissue anchors; and
an anchor driver, configured to anchor the annuloplasty structure by, for each of the tissue anchors sequentially, engaging the tissue anchor, advancing the tissue anchor through the second lumen, and driving the tissue anchor into tissue of the heart,, wherein the second-catheter distal portion and the second coupling are advanceable through the first lumen with the second lumen coaxial with the first lumen:
while the apparatus is in an unlocked state in which (i) the second coupling is disposed within the first lumen, and (ii) rotation of the second handle with respect to the first handle rotates the second-catheter distal portion with respect to the first catheter, and
until the second coupling engages with the first coupling responsively to reaching the first coupling, thereby moving the apparatus into a locked state in which the second-catheter distal portion (i) is rotationally locked with respect to the first catheter, and (ii) extends distally out from the first-catheter distal portion.