Patent ID: 7837610

Claim:
A method of treating diastolic dysfunction as well as ventricular enlargement, comprising: inserting a structure having a plurality of elastic arms physically coupled together proximate one end of the elastic arms and at least one flexible cross-member expansion limiter structure coupled to a respective pair of non-successively adjacent ones of the elastic arms across the structure to limit an expansion of the elastic arms into a left ventricle of a heart; and positioning the structure such that portions of the elastic arms of the structure when expanded contact respective portions of a wall that forms the left ventricle at locations spaced relatively above a point at which a set of papillary muscles extend from the wall which is spaced relatively above an apex of the left ventricle and a portion of the structure is spaced relatively below the point at which the set of papillary muscles extend from the wall that forms the left ventricle without either the elastic arms or the at least one flexible cross-member expansion limiter structure interfering with the papillary muscles or with a number of chordae tendineae that extend from the papillary muscles, wherein the elastic arms assist an expansion of the left ventricle during a diastolic phase of a cardiac cycle and the expansion limiter structure prevents a ventricular enlargement.