Patent ID: 7387126

Claim:
A method of forming an elongate ablation around the pulmonary veins to electrically isolate the pulmonary veins to treat cardiac arrhythmia, comprising the steps of: providing an ablation device having a first jaw, a second jaw and at least one ablating portion on the first jaw, the first jaw being movable relative to the second jaw to clamp cardiac tissue therebetween; forming an opening in a patient's body; forming an opening in the pericardium; moving the ablation device through the openings in the patient's body and pericardium; clamping a portion of the patient's heart between the first and second jaws, the at least one ablating portion being positioned to form a first elongate lesion in the patient's heart to electrically isolate tissue; ablating tissue with the at least one ablating portion to form the first elongate lesion; and changing the position of the ablating device and performing the clamping and ablating steps a number of times to create a plurality of lesions in cardiac tissue which electrically isolates the pulmonary veins.