Patent ID: 7487780

Claim:
A method for ablating cardiac tissue of a patient employing sub-xyphoid access, the method including: making a percutaneous incision proximal to the xiphoid to define an instrument receiving passage; providing an ablation instrument including first and second elongated jaw members, the elongated jaw members being relatively moveable between a first open position and a second clamped position, each jaw member including at least one ablation member adapted to be connected to an ablation energy source, the ablation members being disposed to engage cardiac tissue at a selected cardiac location to ablate tissue therebetween; introducing a fluid into an intrapericardial space to create and maintain a working space for accessing the selected cardiac location; inserting the ablation instrument through the instrument receiving passage to a sub-xyphoid region; advancing the ablation instrument through the sub-xyphoid region into the intrapericardial space to the selected cardiac location; clamping the cardiac tissue between the first and second jaw members at the selected cardiac location; and ablating the cardiac tissue at the selected location by energizing the ablation members.