Self-anchoring cardiac harness

摘要

A self-anchoring cardiac harness is configured to fit at least a portion of a patient's heart and includes a tissue engaging element for frictionally engaging an outer surface of a heart. The engaging element produces sufficient friction relative to the outer surface of the heart, so that the harness does not migrate substantially relative to the heart. There is enough force created by the engaging element that there is no need to apply a suture to the heart in order to retain the cardiac harness. Further, the engaging element is adapted to engage the outer surface of the heart without substantially penetrating the outer surface.