Patent ID: 8523881

Claim:
Apparatus comprising: a plurality of tissue anchors; and an anchor deployment tool, which comprises: a flexible outer tube, which has a distal tube end, and which defines (a) an anchor storage area in which the plurality of tissue anchors are stored before deployment thereof, and (b) a flexible distal anchor manipulation area between the anchor storage area and the distal tube end, the anchor manipulation area having a length of at least 3 cm; a rotating deployment element, which is positioned within the flexible outer tube, and which is configured to: pass through one or more of the anchors without engaging the anchors when the rotating deployment element is withdrawn in a proximal direction within the outer tube, directly engage the anchors in the anchor storage area, a single one at a time, when the rotating deployment element is advanced in the distal direction against the one of the anchors, advance each of the anchors, while thus directly engaged, in a distal direction, and deploy each of the anchors through the distal tube end and into tissue of a subject by screwing the anchor into the tissue, wherein the anchor deployment tool is configured such that only the single anchor being advanced at the time by the rotating deployment element is within the distal anchor manipulation area.