Patent ID: 8808369

Claim:
A minimally invasive method of implanting a self-expanding prosthetic aortic valve in a valve annulus, the method comprising the steps of: forming a surgical site within a patient's chest, the surgical site including a first access port, a second access port, a viewing port and a delivery port; inserting a camera into the viewing port, the camera adapted to provide images from within the surgical site in order to guide subsequent remotely operated steps; remotely grasping each of the native aortic valve leaflets with a remotely operated tissue grasping device inserted into one of the first and second access ports; remotely excising each of the grasped native aortic valve leaflets with a remotely operated cutting device inserted into another of the first and second access ports; remotely attaching sutures to tissue proximate the valve annulus, each suture at a location near a center of a corresponding one of a plurality of Valsalva sinuses; attaching the sutures to the self-expanding prosthetic aortic valve, the self-expanding prosthetic aortic valve including several protrusions, each protrusion adapted to conform to a corresponding Valsalva sinus; remotely delivering the self-expanding prosthetic valve to the valve annulus through the delivery port using a delivery device, the self-expanding prosthetic valve advancing along the sutures to rotationally locate the self-expanding prosthetic aortic valve relative to the valve annulus such that each protrusion is located within the corresponding Valsalva sinus; remotely implanting the self-expanding prosthetic aortic valve at the valve annulus; and remotely withdrawing the delivery device.