Patent Grant
7402134
Not applicable
Not applicable
Heart failure is a common course for the progression of many forms of heart disease. Heart failure may be considered to be the condition in which an abnormality of cardiac function is responsible for the inability of the heart to pump blood at a rate commensurate with the requirements of the metabolizing tissues, or can do so only at an abnormally elevated filling pressure. There are many specific disease processes that can lead to heart failure, many of which are not fully known. In certain instances, heart disease may result from viral infections. In such cases, the heart may enlarge to such an extent that the adverse consequences of heart enlargement continue after the viral infection has passed and the disease continues its progressively debilitating course. In other cases, the initial cause is due to chronic hypertension, myocardial infarction, mitral valve incompetency, or other dilated cardiomyopathies. With each of these conditions, the heart is forced to overexert itself in order to provide the cardiac output demanded by the body during its various demand states. The result is dilation of the left ventricle and remodeling of the heart tissues.
Remodeling involves physical changes to the size, shape and thickness of the heart wall along with a neurohormonal milieu of the entire cardiovascular system. A damaged left ventricle may have some localized thinning and stretching of a portion of the myocardium. The thinned portion of the myocardium often is functionally impaired, and other portions of the myocardium attempt to compensate. As a result, the other portions of the myocardium may expand so that the stroke volume of the ventricle is maintained notwithstanding the impaired zone of the myocardium. Such expansion may cause the left ventricle to assume a somewhat spherical shape.
Cardiac remodeling often subjects the heart wall to increased wall tension or stress, which further impairs the heart's functional performance. Often, the heart wall will dilate further in order to compensate for the impairment caused by such increased stress. If dilation exceeds a critical value, the result will be progressive heart dilation which can be explained by Laplace's law. As the volume subtended by the left hear chamber increases, the stresses in the walls of this cavity will increase. Consequently, the muscle fibrils are overloaded and their ideal range of elongation is exceeded. When this excessive elongation takes place, there is a residual volume in the heart. Then the muscle fibrils must operate against a primarily high wall strain, and are further extended. A vicious cycle arises, leading to increasing distension of the heart and consequent heart insufficiency.
Heart transplantation is one surgical procedure used for treatment of heart failure. Unfortunately, not enough hearts are available for transplant to meet the needs of heart failure patients. In the United States, in excess of 35,000 transplant candidates compete for only about 2,000 transplants per year. A transplant waiting list is about 8-12 months long on average and frequently a patient may have to wait about 1-2 years for a donor heart. While the availability of donor hearts has historically increased, the rate of increase is slowing dramatically. Even if the risks and expense of heart transplant could be tolerated, this treatment option is becoming increasingly unavailable. Further, many patients do not qualify for heart transplant for failure to meet any one of a number of qualifying criteria.
Consequently, substantial effort has been made to find alternative treatments for heart failure. One such surgical treatment is referred to as the Batista procedure; the surgical technique includes dissecting and removing portions of the heart in order to reduce heart volume. This is a radical and experimental procedure subject to substantial controversy. Furthermore, the procedure is highly invasive, risky and expensive and commonly includes other expensive procedures (such as a concurrent heart valve replacement). And if the procedure fails, emergency heart transplant is the only available option.
Another surgical treatment is dynamic cardiomyoplasty. In this procedure, the latissimus dorsi muscle (taken from the patient's shoulder) is wrapped around the heart and chronically paced synchronously with ventricular systole. Pacing of the muscle results in muscle contraction to assist the contraction of the heart during systole. Even though cardiomyoplasty has demonstrated symptomatic improvement, studies suggest the procedure only minimally improves cardiac performance. In addition, the procedure is highly invasive requiring harvesting a patient's muscle and an open chest approach (i.e., sternotomy) to access the heart. Furthermore, the procedure is expensive, especially for those using a paced muscle which require costly pacemakers. The cardiomyoplasty procedure is also complicated. For example, it is difficult to adequately wrap the muscle around the heart with a satisfactory fit. Also, if adequate blood flow is not maintained to the wrapped muscle, the muscle may necrose. The muscle may stretch after wrapping reducing its constraining benefits and is generally not susceptible to post-operative adjustment. Finally, the muscle may fibrose and adhere to the heart causing undesirable constraint on the contraction of the heart during systole.
A variety of devices have also been developed to treat heart failure by improving cardiac output. For example, left ventricular assist pumps have been developed to help the heart to pump blood. These mechanical pumps reduce the load on the heart by performing all or part of the pumping function normally done by the heart. Currently, mechanical pumps are used to sustain the patient while a donor heart for transplantation becomes available for the patient. Researchers and cardiac surgeons have also experimented with prosthetic “girdles” disposed around the heart. One such design is a prosthetic “sock” or “jacket” that is wrapped around the heart. However, these designs require invasive open chest surgery, significant handling of the heart, and have not seen widespread success.
Consequently, there is a need for alternative treatments applicable to both early and later stages of heart failure to correct pumping insufficiency due to distension of the heart thereby stopping the progressive nature of the disease or more drastically slowing the progressive nature of congestive heart disease. It is also desired that such therapies require minimal manipulation of the heart, be available to a broad spectrum of patients with various degrees of heart failure, be cost effective, safe and efficient. At least some of these objectives will be met with the present invention.
Systems, methods and devices are provided for treating heart failure patients suffering from various levels of heart dilation. Heart dilation treated by reshaping the heart anatomy with the use of magnetic forces. Such reshaping changes the geometry of portions of the heart, particularly the right or left ventricles, to increase contractibility of the ventricles thereby increasing the stroke volume which in turn increases the cardiac output of the heart. The magnetic forces are applied with the use of one or more magnetic elements which are implanted within the heart tissue or attached externally and/or internally to a surface of the heart. The various charges of the magnetic forces interact causing the associated heart tissue areas to readjust position, such as to decrease the width of the ventricles. Such repositioning is maintained over time by the force of the magnetic elements, allowing the damaging effects of heart dilation to slow in progression or reverse.
In a first aspect of the present invention, methods are provided for reshaping the heart anatomy. In one embodiment, the method includes implanting a first magnetic element having a first charge at least partially within a first tissue area of the heart anatomy, and implanting a second magnetic element having a second charge at least partially within a second tissue area of the heart anatomy. The first and second magnetic elements are arranged so as to magnetically interact with each other causing at least one of the first and second tissues areas to move in a manner which reshapes the heart anatomy. For example, when the first and second magnetic elements have opposite charges, the magnetic elements may be arranged so as to magnetically attract each other. This causes at least one of the first and second tissue areas to move toward the other. When the magnetic elements are implanted on opposite sides of a ventricle, movement of the tissues toward each other may draw the tissues inward and reduce the width of the ventricle. When the first and second magnetic elements have similar charges, the magnetic elements may be arranged so as to magnetically repel each other. This causes at least one of the first and second tissue areas to move away from the other. Depending on the initial geometry of the heart anatomy, movement of specific tissue areas away from each other may cause other areas to move toward each other. The overall result may thus be reduced dilation.
Typically, the method further comprises implanting a third magnetic element having a third charge at least partially within a third tissue area of the heart anatomy. The third magnetic element is positioned so as to magnetically interact with the first and/or second magnetic element causing at least one of the first, second and third tissues areas to move in a manner which reshapes the heart anatomy.
In preferred embodiments, least one of the first tissue area and the second tissue area comprise a wall of a ventricle and reshaping the heart anatomy comprises reshaping the ventricle. Typically, reshaping the ventricle comprises drawing at least one wall of the ventricle inward reducing a width of the ventricle. However, it may be appreciated that the tissue areas may be at any location, including the right atrium, left atrium, the valves, and/or any of the associated anatomy, such as the aorta, pulmonary artery, pulmonary vein, chordae, etc.
In some embodiments, the first magnetic element includes at least one protrusion and implanting the first magnetic element comprises advancing at least a portion of the at least one protrusion at least partially within the first tissue area of the heart anatomy. When the at least one has a screw shape, advancing at least a portion of the protrusion may include rotating the screw shape. In other embodiments, the at least one protrusion is capable of bending, typically to help anchor the magnetic element in the tissue. Such bending may be achieved by applying energy to the protrusion which causes the bending. Such energy may include an electrical current, external energy or a combination of these.
In another embodiment, the method of reshaping the heart anatomy comprises attaching a first magnetic element having a first charge to a first target location on a surface of the heart anatomy, and attaching a second magnetic element having a second charge to a second target location on a surface of the heart anatomy. The first and second magnetic elements are arranged so as to magnetically interact with each other causing the first and second target locations to move in a manner which reshapes the heart anatomy. When the first and second charges are opposite charges, the magnetic elements may be arranged so as to magnetically attract causing the at least one of the first and second target locations move toward the other. And, when the first and second charges are similar charges and the magnetic elements may be arranged so as to magnetically repel causing the at least one of the first and second target locations to move away from the other.
Typically, the method further comprises attaching a third magnetic element having a third charge to a third target location on a surface of the heart anatomy, wherein the third magnetic element is positioned so as to magnetically interact with the first and/or second magnetic element causing at least one of the first, second and third target locations to move in a manner which reshapes the heart anatomy.
In preferred embodiments, least one of the first target location and the second location are on a wall of a ventricle and reshaping the heart anatomy comprises reshaping the ventricle. Typically, reshaping the ventricle comprises drawing at least one wall of the ventricle inward reducing a width of the ventricle. However, it may be appreciated that the target locations may be at any location, including the right atrium, left atrium, the valves, and/or any of the associated anatomy, such as the aorta, pulmonary artery, pulmonary vein, chordae, etc. In addition, at least one of the first target location and the second location may be on an external surface of the heart anatomy. Likewise, at least one of the first target location and the second location may be on an internal surface of the heart anatomy. Attaching the first magnetic element may include adhering the first magnetic element to the first target location on a surface of the heart anatomy with adhesive.
In some embodiments, the first magnetic element includes a patch and attaching the first magnetic element comprises attaching the patch to the first target location on a surface of the heart anatomy. Attaching the patch may include, for example, suturing or adhering the patch to the first target location on a surface of the heart anatomy.
In another aspect of the present invention, a magnetic element is provided for reshaping heart anatomy. In some embodiments, the magnetic element comprises a magnetic core, and at least one protrusion adapted to be at least partially implantable within a tissue area of the heart anatomy. The magnetic core is comprised of any suitable magnetic material, such as Neudynium Iron Boron, Samarium Cobalt, Aluminum Nickel Cobalt or a combination of these. Likewise, the at least one protrusion may be comprised of any suitable material including a shape memory material. In the instance of a shape memory material, the protrusion may form a bend upon receiving energy which anchors the at least one protrusion within the tissue area of the heart anatomy. In other embodiments, the at least one protrusion has the shape of a screw. In addition, the magnetic core may include a biocompatible polymer coating.
In a further aspect of the invention, a composite magnetic element is provided for reshaping heart anatomy. In some embodiments, the composite magnetic element comprises a core inner layer comprising magnetic material and at least one outer layer comprising a non-magnetic material attached to the core inner layer. In preferred embodiments, the at least one outer layer comprises two outer layers, wherein the core inner layer is sandwiched between the outer layers. The magnetic material of the core inner layer may be comprised of any suitable magnetic material, including Neudynium Iron Boron, Samarium Cobalt, Aluminum Nickel Cobalt or a combination of these. The non-magnetic material of the at least one outer layer may be metallic or non-metallic and may be comprised of stainless steel, platinum, iridium, titanium, or tantalum, to name a few. In addition, the composite magnetic element may further include a biocompatible polymer coating.
In another aspect of the invention, a system of magnetic elements is provided for reshaping heart anatomy. In one embodiment, the system includes a first magnetic element having a first charge and a second magnetic element having a second charge. The first magnetic element is adapted to be at least partially implantable within or positionable on a first tissue area of the heart anatomy and the second magnetic element is adapted to be at least partially implantable within or positionable on a second tissue area of the heart anatomy. The first and second magnetic elements are arrangeable so as to magnetically interact with each other causing at least one of the first and second tissues areas to move in a manner which reshapes the heart anatomy. In some embodiments, at least one of the magnetic elements has the shape of discs, cones, rods, blocks, spheres, rings or a combination of these. And, in some embodiments, at least one of the magnetic elements comprises a composite magnetic element including a core inner layer of magnetic material and at least one outer layer comprised of a non-magnetic material attached to the core inner layer. Further, in some embodiments, at least one of the magnetic elements includes a protrusion that is at least partially implantable within the associated tissue area of the heart anatomy.
In another aspect of the present invention, a delivery system is provided for delivering a magnetic element. In some embodiments, the delivery system includes a catheter having a proximal end and a distal end, a needle having a passageway extending therethough, the needle being advanceable through the catheter and having a needle tip which is extendable beyond the distal end of the catheter, and a least one magnetic element configured for passage through the passageway and delivery from the needle tip. The system may further comprise a stylet advanceable through the passageway to pass the at least one magnetic element therethrough. The system may also comprise a needle advancement mechanism which advances and retracts the needle tip in relation to the distal end of the catheter. As stated previously, the at least one magnetic element may have the shape of a disc, cone, rod, block, sphere, ring or a combination of these, to name a few.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description to follow, together with the accompanying drawings.
CO=HR×SV
whereas
In heart failure, particularly in dilated cardiomyopathy, EF can become very small as SV decreases and EDV increases. In severe heart failure, EF may be only 20%. EF is often used as a clinical index to evaluate the status of the heart. By changing the geometry or reshaping the left or right ventricle with the methods and devices of the present invention, the contractibility of the ventricles may be increased thereby increasing the stroke volume (SV). This in turn increases the cardiac output (CO).
The geometry of the ventricles are changed by placing magnetic elements 10 on or within tissue areas or walls W of the ventricles, such as illustrated in
The magnetic elements 10 are comprised of any suitable magnetic material, such as Neudynium Iron Boron (Nd Fe B), Samarium Cobalt (Sm Co) or Aluminum Nickel Cobalt (Al Ni Co). The magnetic elements 10 may have any suitable size and shape, including discs, cones, rods, blocks, spheres, and rings to name a few. In one embodiment, illustrated in
In another embodiment, illustrated in
It may be appreciated that the magnetic elements of the present invention may have the form of a rod. In some embodiments, the rod has a diameter in the range of approximately 0.1-3 mm and a length in the range of 3-8 mm. Similar to the magnetic discs described above, the rod may be comprised of any suitable magnetic material, such as Neudynium Iron Boron (Nd Fe B), Samarium Cobalt (Sm Co) or Aluminum Nickel Cobalt (Al Ni Co), to name a few. Likewise, the rod may include a biocompatible polymer coating 34, such as polyurethane, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) or polyether ether ketone (PEEK), having a thickness in the range of 0.1-0.3 mm.
As previously mentioned, the magnetic elements 10 may be positioned at any location on (externally or internally) or within the walls W of the heart H. When the elements 10 are positioned within the walls W, the elements 10 are advanced through at least a portion of the wall W with the use of a delivery instrument, as will be described in later sections, so that the elements 10 are substantially surrounded by the tissue of the walls W and therefore held in place by the tissue of the walls W. When the elements 10 are positioned on the walls W, the elements 10 are held in place by adhesion to the surface of the walls W or by anchoring into the walls W, such as by suturing or advancing one or more protrusions into the walls W. For example,
Referring to
Additional embodiments of magnetic elements 10 having protrusions 30 for anchoring are shown in
In still further embodiments, the magnetic elements 10 are joined by a tether 31, as illustrated in
In preferred embodiments, the magnetic elements 10 are delivered to the heart wall W with the use of an endovascular delivery system.
Typically, the distal end 46 includes a deflectable tip to assist in advancement of the catheter 42 through the vascular anatomy, such as from the femoral or brachial arteries. In some embodiments, the deflectable tip has a functionality similar to the deflectable tips of conventional electrophysiology or percutaneous myocardial revascularization (PMR) catheters. Advancement of the catheter 42 may be visualized with any suitable method, including fluoroscopy. Thus, in some embodiments, the catheter 42 includes a radiopaque marker 51 at the distal tip of the distal end 46. The marker 51 may be comprised of a metal such as gold or platinum. Further, the catheter 42 may be doped with radiopaque material, such as barium sulfate (BaSO4).
Deflection of the catheter 42 may be achieved with the use of pullwires 43.
Referring to
The magnetic elements 10 are loadable within the needle 50 for delivery to the heart wall W. Needle 50 has a passageway 60 extending from the proximal end 51 to the needle tip 52 so that one or more magnetic elements 10 loaded into the proximal end 51 can be advanced through the passageway 60 and expelled from the needle tip 52. The passageway 60 may have any suitable size, such as in the range of approximately 0.25-0.6 mm. In some embodiments, the passageway 60 is coated with a PTFE lining to reduce friction during advancement. Coating of the magnetic elements 10 with a biocompatible polymer, such as PTFE, also reduces friction. Referring to
In some embodiments, the delivery system 40 includes mechanisms for delivering an electrical current, such as a DC voltage or radiofrequency, directly to the magnetic elements 10. In the case of DC voltage, the electrical current may be supplied with the use of DC batteries. Such application of current may be used to bend protrusions of the magnetic elements 10, as described above, to assist in anchoring the elements 50 in the heart wall W.
It may be appreciated that the left ventricle LV may alternatively be approached by advancement of the catheter 42 through the inferior vena cava IVC, into the right atrium RA, across the interatrial septum, into the left atrium LA and through the mitral valve MV. Similarly, the right ventricle RV may be approached through the inferior vena cava IVC, into the right atrium RA and through the tricuspid valve TV. A variety of other endovascular approaches may also be used. It may also be appreciated that non-endovascular approaches may also be used wherein the magnetic elements 10 are placed on or within the walls W by open chest surgery or through minimally invasive procedures where access is achieved thorascopically.
Alternatively or in addition, magnetic elements 10 may be positioned on an external surface of the heart. In preferred embodiments, the elements 10 are positioned on the external surfaces of the walls of the ventricles. For example, as illustrated in
Externally placed magnetic elements 10 may have any of the forms described and illustrated above and may optionally include a patch to assist in attaching the element 10 to the heart wall W.
In this embodiment illustrated in
In this embodiment illustrated in
The magnetic elements 10 are attached to the external surface of the heart by open heart surgical methods or minimally invasive thorascopic methods. The patches are typically sewn to the heart with the use of sutures. Alternatively or in addition, the patches may be glued to the heart with a tissue adhesive. As mentioned above, the magnetic forces are able to assist the ventricles throughout the cardiac cycle, increasing the contractibility of the ventricles. This increases the stroke volume (SV) which increases the cardiac output (CO).
The larger patch 92 is sized and shaped to cover a more extensive portion of the surface of the heart, such as a surface covering an atrium or ventricle.
The magnetic elements 10 are attached to the external surface of the heart, as illustrated in
Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example, for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will be obvious that various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used and the above description should not be taken as limiting in scope of the invention which is defined by the appended claims.
This application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/588,254, filed on Jul. 15, 2004, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/142,078 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,285,087, filed on the same day as the instant application and incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
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