Patent ID: 8192351

Claim:
An apparatus for delivering a cardiac harness onto a heart, comprising: an elongate body having a proximal portion and a distal portion, the distal portion having a tubular housing sized to contain the cardiac harness in a compacted configuration, the tubular housing having a proximal end, an open distal end, an inner surface, and an outer surface; a plurality of elongate push rods longitudinally movable with respect to the elongate body, the cardiac harness releasably connected to each of the push rods such that advancement of the push rods in a distal direction moves the cardiac harness from the compacted configuration in the housing to an expanded configuration outside the housing; an outer deflector having a distal end and a proximal end, the outer deflector being flexible and configured so that it can be collapsed into a delivery configuration, and can be flared radially outwardly to a deployed configuration at which it has a first diameter at its distal end; an inner deflector having a distal end and a proximal end, the inner deflector being flexible and configured so that it can be collapsed into a delivery configuration, and can be flared radially outwardly to a deployed configuration at which it has a second diameter at its distal end; a deflector sheath slidably mounted over the outer surface of the tubular housing and having a delivery position at which the sheath retains the outer and inner deflectors in a collapsed, delivery configuration; and the deflector sheath being further slidably mounted over the outer surface of the tubular housing to a deployment position at which the outer and inner deflectors flare radially outwardly in deployed configurations so that the outer deflector engages the pericardium and the push rods and cardiac harness slide under the outer deflector and over the inner deflector as the harness slides over the heart.