STITCHING DEVICES FOR HEART VALVE REPLACEMENT SURGERY

摘要

There is provided a surgical suturing apparatus (10), or a stitching device particularly suited for use in suturing artificial heart valves to heart tissue during heart valve replacement surgery. The disclosed apparatus includes a stationary jaw (16) oriented at a predetermined angle relative to the apparatus to facilitate suturing through the artificial valve in a direction generally parallel to the axis of the valve. One embodiment of the stitching device utilizes a pair of surgical needles (304) or incision members joined by a single length of suture material (306). There are also disclosed disposable loading units (30) for providing suture/needle assemblies to the suturing apparatus. Also disclosed are methods of suturing an artificial heart valve to heart tissue using the disclosed apparatus.