Patent ID: 7578784

Claim:
A device for treating a disease of a heart, the device comprising: a jacket dimensioned to be placed on said heart with said jacket surrounding at least a lower portion of said heart and sized to snugly conform to an external geometry of said heart to constrain circumferential expansion of said heart during diastole and permit substantially unimpeded contraction of said heart during systole, said jacket having an open base end sized to be placed over said heart and to surround at least a valvular annulus of said heart and said jacket having a length sized to extend from said base end to an apex end sized to surround said heart near an apex of said heart, a direction between said base end and said apex end defining a longitudinal dimension; wherein said jacket is constructed from a biocompatible material selected to exhibit an amount of expansion in response to a force applied to said material in a first direction greater than an amount of expansion in response to said force applied to said material in a second direction; and wherein said material is formed from a plurality of interconnected elongated members with opposing surfaces of said members defining a plurality of open cells, wherein said elongated members are coated; said material oriented on said jacket with said first direction extending in a direction substantially aligned with said longitudinal dimension and said second direction aligned substantially transverse to said first direction; whereby said jacket is more readily expandable in said longitudinal dimension than in a direction transverse to said longitudinal dimension.