Patent ID: 8747297

Claim:
An endoscopic heart surgery method comprising: an inserting step of inserting an inserted portion of an endoscope into a body from the subxiphoid area and inserting the inserted portion into the pericardial space by penetrating the pericardium in the vicinity of the heart apex at a first punctured region; a moving step of advancing the inserted portion toward the base of the heart so that the inserted portion passes through the vicinity of the roof of the pericardial space and is moved toward the heart apex to a treated area in the pericardial space; an observing step of observing the treated area with the endoscope; and a pulsation suppressing step of suppressing the pulsation of the heart prior to the observing step by abutting against the heart a rigid device that is inserted into the pericardial space by penetrating the pericardium at a second punctured region, the second punctured region being different from that of the first punctured region, wherein in the moving step, the inserted portion is disposed in an inverted U-shaped configuration, the entirety of which follows a shape of an inner surface of the pericardium, the inserted portion being abutted against the inner surface of the pericardium by its own restoring force in an outward radial direction, by which the inserted portion tends to restore its substantially linear shape.