Patent ID: 8764820

Claim:
An off-pump, minimally-invasive surgical method of implanting a prosthetic heart valve to an aortic valve annulus of a patient, comprising, while the patient's heart remains beating: providing a balloon catheter that includes a balloon on its distal end and a movable pusher having a distal sleeve engaging a proximal end of the balloon and surrounding a catheter deflecting segment located just proximal to the balloon; providing a balloon-expandable prosthetic heart valve mounted over the balloon on the distal end of the balloon catheter; creating a puncture from outside of the heart through a left ventricle wall of the patient; inserting an introducer sheath through the puncture; passing the balloon catheter through the introducer sheath into the left ventricle; using the pusher and sleeve to advance the balloon and prosthetic heart valve mounted thereon so that the prosthetic heart valve is positioned within the aortic annulus; proximally displacing the pusher and sleeve with respect to the deflecting segment so that the sleeve no longer surrounds the deflecting segment; bending the deflecting segment so as to angle the prosthetic heart valve mounted thereon relative to a section of the balloon catheter proximal to the deflecting segment and relative to the aortic annulus; and inflating the balloon to expand the prosthetic heart valve at the aortic annulus.