Patent ID: 11911042
Assignee: ATRICURE, INC.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 17:
18. A method of occluding a left atrial appendage, the method comprising:
inserting a trocar into a mammalian chest cavity;
passing an open-ended occlusion clamp in a compressed state through the trocar;, exiting the trocar with the open-ended occlusion clamp and allowing the open-ended occlusion clamp to expand at a distal end to take on an expanded state so that widthwise dimension at the distal end is larger than a widthwise dimension at a proximal end;
repositioning the open-ended occlusion clamp while in the expended state so that at least a portion of a left atrial appendage interposes opposing longitudinal segments of the open-ended occlusion clamp;
compressing the opposing longitudinal segments to occlude at least a portion of the left atrial appendage by repositioning a first spring in a proximal-to-distal direction to exert a first bias tending to direct a distal portion of the opposing longitudinal segments toward one another and using a second spring to exert a second bias to bias a proximal portion of the longitudinal segments toward one another; and,
retaining the open-ended occlusion clamp in an occlusion position sufficient to cause necrosis.