Patent ID: 8801665

Claim:
An apparatus for administering an injectate into myocardial tissue of a heart of a patient, comprising: a body having a distal portion; a stabilizer disposed at the body distal portion for stabilizing the body distal portion relative to the myocardial tissue; a needle controllably extendable distally from the body distal portion, the needle comprising a needle tip and an enlarged region disposed along the needle a predetermined distance from the needle tip for engaging the myocardial tissue during distal extension to limit penetration of the needle into the myocardial tissue to a predetermined penetration depth, and further comprising an injection port distal of the enlarged region; and a lumen for receiving the injectate, the lumen being in fluid communication with the injection port through the needle for conveying the injectate to the injection port; wherein the stabilizer comprises a helix adapted to be screwed into the myocardial tissue to a fixation depth, the penetration depth of the needle being equal to and independent of the fixation depth of the helix.