Patent ID: 7485142

Claim:
A method of reconfiguring an atrioventricular heart valve without replacing the natural valve leaflets, which method comprises providing an annuloplasty ring sized and shaped to have a desired configuration and formed with a plurality of openings along its length, and implanting said ring upon the tissue surface at the mitral or tricuspid valve of a patient by implanting a plurality of staples in the patient's heart tissue so as to spatially position said annuloplasty ring in a reconfiguration association along a portion of the native valve annulus, in association with one or more of the natural valve leaflets, with one leg of each said staple being disposed in only a portion of one of said plurality of said openings, while providing the tissue, in which said staples are implanted, with the ability to shift with respect to said ring and conform the annulus to said ring so the shape of the valve will steadily improve to an optimum configuration where its natural leaflets achieve better coaptation.