Patent ID: 8295947

Claim:
A method for electrical stimulation of the heart of a human or animal subject, said method comprising the steps of: A) providing a penetration catheter that comprises an elongate flexible catheter body and a penetrator that has a hollow lumen, said penetrator being advanceable from a retracted position to an extended position; B) inserting the flexible penetration catheter body into the subject's vasculature, transluminally advancing the flexible catheter body through the subject's vasculature to a position within a coronary blood vessel; C) advancing the penetrator from the penetration catheter body positioned within a coronary blood vessel through a wall of the coronary blood vessel to a location within the pericardial space; D) advancing a first guidewire through the penetrator and into the pericardial space; E) retracting the penetrator and withdrawing the penetration catheter, leaving the first guidewire in the pericardial space; F) inserting the penetration catheter over the guidewire into the pericardial space; G) advancing the penetrator from the penetration catheter positioned in the pericardial space to create a penetration tract that extends from the pericardial space into the heart; H) advancing at least one electrode into the penetration tract; and I) actuating said at least one electrode to deliver electrical stimulation to the heart.