Patent ID: 8454652

Claim:
A surgical procedure for approximating tissue within a patient's body, comprising: (a) locating an approximation instrument within a body of a patient at an end of a catheter wherein the approximation instrument is functionally engaged with a control wire and a push tube; the instrument comprising: (i) a first set of expandable elements; (ii) a second set of expandable elements; (iii) a rail along which the first and second sets of expandable elements are located; and (iv) a locking mechanism for allowing the first and second sets of expandable elements to be relatively moved to more proximate positions while inhibiting movement of the first and second sets of expandable elements to a more distant relative position along a length of the rail, after being moved to the more proximate position; (v) a threaded engagement feature for engaging the control wire; (vi) a seat region for engaging the push tube wherein the wire and the push tube engage relatively movable elements and that upon relative motion can be made to bring the first and second set of expandable elements to their more proximate position; (vii) a controllable stop element that inhibits the first set of expandable elements from extending beyond a desired retention position when located in a first position and allows distal axial collapse of the first set of expandable elements when located in another position so that the instrument may be extracted in its entirety from a proximal side of the tissue; (b) inserting a distal end of the instrument through a proximal tissue region and then through a separated distal tissue region; (c) expanding the first set of expandable elements; (d) locating the first set of expanded elements against a wall of the distal tissue region; (e) expanding the second set of expandable elements; (f) locating the second set of expanded elements against a wall of the proximal tissue region; (g) relatively moving the first set of expanded elements and the second set of expanded elements toward one another to bring the proximal and distal tissue regions into a more proximate position; and (h) releasing at least a portion of the instrument from the catheter by rotating the control wire in a first direction so that a portion of the instrument that contains the first and second sets of expanded elements remains in the body of the patient and retains the distal and proximal tissue regions in the more proximate position, wherein the instrument is disengaged from the distal and proximal tissue regions by rotating the control wire in an opposite direction to that of the first direction to allow collapse of the first set of expandable elements in a distal direction as the instrument is extracted in a proximal direction.