COMPRESSIBLE HEART VALVE ANNULUS SIZING TEMPLATES

摘要

Compressible heart valve annulus sizing templates suitable for minimally-invasive or otherwise reduced accessibility surgeries. The sizing templates may be folded, rolled, or otherwise compressed into a reduced configuration for passage through an access tube or other such access channel. Once expelled from the access tube the sizing templates expand to their original shape for use in sizing the annulus. The templates may be formed of an elastomeric polymer material such as silicone, a highly elastic metal such as NITINOL, or both. Grasping tabs or connectors for handles permit manipulation from outside the body. A NITINOL wireform may be compressed for passage through an access tube and expelled from the distal end thereof into a cloth cover to assume a sizer shape.