|Publication number||US7392077 B2|
|Application number||US 10/822,600|
|Publication date||24 Jun 2008|
|Filing date||12 Apr 2004|
|Priority date||5 Nov 1999|
|Also published as||US6748258, US20040254451|
|Publication number||10822600, 822600, US 7392077 B2, US 7392077B2, US-B2-7392077, US7392077 B2, US7392077B2|
|Inventors||Richard L. Mueller, U. Hiram Chee|
|Original Assignee||Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc.|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (87), Non-Patent Citations (9), Referenced by (5), Classifications (29), Legal Events (3)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/163,698 filed on Nov. 5, 1999, expressly incorporated by reference. This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/706,584 filed on Nov. 3, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,748,258, expressly incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to methods and devices for treating a patient at risk of loss of cardiac function by cardiac ischemia.
Heart disorders are a common cause of death in developed countries. They also impair the quality of life of millions of people and restrict activity by causing pain, breathlessness, fatigue, fainting spells and anxiety. The major cause of heart disease in developed countries is impaired or inadequate blood supply. The coronary arteries may become narrowed due to arteriosclerosis and part of the heart muscle is deprived of oxygen and other nutrients. The resulting ischemia or blockage can lead to angina pectoris, a pain in the chest, arms or jaw due to lack of oxygen to the heart's myocardium, infarction or tissue necrosis in myocardial tissue. Alternatively, and particularly with age, the extent of vascularization of the heart may diminish, leaving the heart undersupplied with oxygen even in the absence of significant arteriosclerosis.
Coronary-artery blockage can be relieved in a number of ways. Drug therapy, including nitrates, beta-blockers, and peripheral vasodilator drugs (to dilate the arteries) or thrombolytic drugs (to dissolve clots) can be very effective. If drug treatment fails, transluminal angioplasty is often indicated—the narrowed part of the artery, clogged with atherosclerotic plaque or other deposits, can be stretched apart by passing a balloon to the site and gently inflating it a certain degree. In the event drug therapy is ineffective or angioplasty is too risky (introduction of a balloon in an occluded artery can cause portions of the arteriosclerotic material to become dislodged which may cause a total blockage—at a point downstream of the subject occlusion, thereby requiring emergency procedures), the procedure known as coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is the most common and successful major heart operation performed, with over 500,000 procedures done annually in America alone. A length of vein is removed from another part of the body. The section of vein is first sewn to the aorta and then sewn onto a coronary artery at a place such that oxygenated blood can flow directly into the heart. CABG typically is performed in an open chest surgical procedure, although recent advances suggest minimally invasive surgery (MIS) techniques may also be used.
Another method of improving myocardial blood supply is called transmyocardial revascularization (TMR), the creation of channels from the epicardial to the endocardial portions of the heart. Initially, the procedure used needles to perform “myocardial acupuncture,” and has been experimented with at least as early as the 1930s and used clinically since the 1960s, see Deckelbaum. L. I., Cardiovascular Applications of Laser Technology, Lasers in Surgery and Medicine 15:315-341 (1994). This procedure has been likened to transforming the human heart into one resembling that of a reptile. In the reptile heart, perfusion occurs via communicating channels between the left ventricle and the coronary arteries. Frazier, O. H., Myocardial Revascularization with Laser—Preliminary Findings, Circulation, 1995; 92 [suppl 11:11-58-11-65]. There is evidence of these communicating channels in the developing human embryo. In the human heart, myocardial microanatomy involves the presence of myocardial sinusoids. These sinusoidal communications vary in size and structure, but represent a network of direct arterial-luminal, arterial-arterial, arterial-venous, and venous-luminal connections. The needle technique was not continued because the channels did not remain open, replaced by the use of laser energy to accomplish TMR.
Drug therapies with angiogenic growth factors may expedite and/or augment collateral artery development. To accomplish these needs, drug transfer devices for delivering precise amounts of these drugs can enhance this healing process. Surgeons who deal with minimally invasive surgical techniques and interventional cardiologists who deal with percutaneous approaches, need devices for drug delivery procedures. The drugs used in modern medical technology are often quite expensive, potentially mixing and/or handling sensitive, and it is a new challenge to make these drugs or other compounds readily available for precise, predetermined delivery during these advanced or other procedures.
The invention includes, in one aspect, a method of treating a patient at risk of loss of cardiac function by cardiac ischemia. The method is practiced by FIR imaging the patient's heart, or a portion thereof, to identify (i) an underperfused region of cardiac muscle, (ii) a source of oxygenated blood that is proximate a boundary of the underperfused region, and (iii) a target area that includes the underperfused region boundary and a tissue expanse lying between the oxygenated blood supply and the boundary. A stimulus effective to stimulate angiogenesis in myocardial tissue and form a capillary network from the source of oxygenated blood in the direction of the underperfused region is introduced at each of a plurality of sites throughout the target area. The demand for oxygen the underperfused region is then sustained for a period sufficient to covert the capillary network into an arteriole network.
The underperfused region is an at risk region of cardiac muscle which is insufficiently perfused to handle heightened activity or is likely to be near term at risk of underperfusion due to the progression of nearby disease and cannot be treated by the full restoration of normal coronary flow.
Usually, patients will enter this treatment regiment by appearing for intermittent angina (intermittent identifies that demand for arterial growth and arterial maturation is not reliably turned on) through drug or exercise stress testing where cardiac reserve appears less than optimal or when a routine treatment such as bypass, angioplasty or stents is unable to restore normalized blood flow, and in the judgment of the cardiologist or surgeon is at risk due to lack of reserve capacity. The imaging step to identify the area at risk and nearby source of oxygenated blood (target) may be carried out by monitoring blood flow in the heart by myocardial perfusion imaging by single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron-emission tomography (PET), echo-planar imaging, MRI, or angiogram.
The source of oxygenated blood in the method may be one in which arteries less than about 1 mm branch into surrounding arterioles, and in which the arterioles with inner-lumen diameters between about 50-200 microns are plentiful, and the sites are spaced from one another at spacing of between 0.5 to 1 cm. Alternatively, or in addition, the underperfused region may be a myocardial region of either of the patient's ventricles, and the source of oxygenated blood, the interior of the underperfused heart ventricle region. Here the target area includes the region of ventricle endocardium underlying the underperfused region.
The stimulus introduced at each of the target-area sites may be a growth factor, such as basic or acidic fibroblast growth factor-1 (FGF-2, FGF-1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), or combinations of two or more of these growth factors. The growth factor may be introduced in the form of a recombinant protein carried in a pharmaceutically acceptable medium, a vector containing the coding sequence for the growth factor and a control region effective to promote transcription of the coding region in patient myocardial cells, and/or in the form of a myocardial or cardiac myoblast cells which have been transformed with a gene encoding the growth factor. The manner of introducing the growth factor may be by (i) injecting the protein, vector of cells directly into myocardial tissue at each site, (ii) drawing the protein or vector into myocardial tissue at each site by iontophoresis from a reservoir placed against the site, (iii) forming a channel in the myocardium at each site, and placing the protein, vector or cells into the channel, or (iv) bombarding each site with a biolistic particle containing or coated with the protein, vector or cells. For example, an angiogenic stimulus would be used without adjunctive biological triggering when the target area is predetermined at the patient evaluation and diagnosis stage to have sufficient pre-existing tissue demand for oxygen in the form of significant angina (Canadian Heart Class 4) or when the physician has predetermined that the patient can exercise post treatment to provide dependable tissue demand for arteriole growth beyond the pre-existing patient reserve capacity.
In another general embodiment, the stimulus, or biologic trigger, introduced into the target-area sites is an injury produced by a mechanical, laser, chemical, thermal, or ultrasonic stimulus. This type of stimulus may be additive to the effect of a drug stimulus by turning on the local naturally occurring angiogenic processes of adding a biologic trigger a new immediate tissue demand for for oxygen is added which can be effectively used where Class 4 Angina is not available and exercise cannot be used due to related concerns. For example, the injury may be produced by a mechannical cutting device effective to produce an annulus of injury about a core of healthy cells. Alternatively, injury may be produced by introducing into each of the sites, a wire device having a barbed segment, where the method further includes periodically moving the wire devices relative to the heart, to produce a prolonged angiogenic stimulus at the site. In another example the stimulus may include a mechanical injury produced by forming, at selected target sites in the target area, elongate channels in the endocardium of the ventricle to stimulate angiogenic growth from the ventricle to neighboring target regions as described above. The depth and width of the endocardial channels, combined with the blood turbulence produced within the ventricle, is such as to minimize accumulation of blood clot material in the channels. The channels have preferred width and depth dimensions between 1-5 mm. This embodiment of the method may further include imaging the heart to identify (i) as a second source of oxygenated blood, coronary arterioles in the epicardial region of the ventricle overlying the underperfused heart-ventricle region, (ii) as a second target area the area between the second source of oxygenated blood supply and the underperfused region, and the adjacent boundary of the underperfused region. There is then introduced into the second target area, at selected sites therein, a stimulus effective to stimulate angiogenesis in the target area. Sustained demand can also be created with chemical methods such as acidic injections, with implants that elicit a foreign body response, and with viral carriers which might be used to facilitate angiogenic gene transfer.
The sustained demand may be by requiring the patient to adhere to an exercise regimen, or by producing a recurrent or slow-healing injury at or near the target-area sites. For example, sustaining the demand may include the additional steps, after initially inducing capillary blush, of equipping the patient with an exercise monitor that indicates the level and amount of heart exercise the patient achieves, and requiring the patient to achieve an amount and level of heart exercise effective to stimulate the conversion of capillary blush produced by the introducing step to arterioles in the target area. The exercise regimen is carried out over a period of at least weeks 4-15 following the introduction of angiogenic stimuli.
These and other and features of the invention will become more fully apparent when the following detailed description of the invention is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
Though the heart supplies blood to all other parts of the body, the heart itself has relatively little communication with the oxygenated blood supply. Thus, the two coronary arteries, the left coronary artery and the right coronary artery, arise from the aorta and encircle the heart muscle on either side “like a crown” to supply the heart itself with blood. Coronary arteries are shown at 48 in
The present invention provides methods and devices for treating a patient at risk of loss of cardiac function by cardiac ischemia. The methods are designed to increase blood flow or circulation from a source of oxygenated blood in the heart to a region that is underperfused—that is, a region that is receiving less oxygenated blood than that optimally required by the heart under a moderate load or stress. As a consequence of this underperfusion, or ischemia, the patient is at risk of, or has already suffered some loss of, cardiac muscle used in normal heart functioning. If the patient at risk has already suffered some loss of heart muscle, the region of lost muscle is referred to as a nonviable muscle, indicative of a cardiac infarction.
In practicing the treatment method, one first images the patient's heart, to identify (i) an underperfused region of cardiac muscle, (ii) a source of oxygenated blood that is proximate a boundary of the underperfused region, and (iii) a target area that includes the underperfused-region boundary and a tissue expanse lying between the oxygenated blood supply and said boundary. The imaging may also be used to identify (iv) the degree or magnitude of high grade tissue demand for oxygenated blood that is naturally occurring in the underperfused region and based on this assessment if a biological trigger will be added.
The imaging step is illustrated in
The underperfused region is preferably identified in lateral surface dimensions, and to the extent possible, in sectional dimension, to produce a lateral or volumetric image of the underperfused regions.
The source of oxygenated blood will typically be the arterial supply of blood localized in the pericardial, epicardial and outer myocardial layers of the heart, adjacent the underperfused region. Ideally, the source will be one in which an area of dense arteries less than about 1 mm branch into surrounding arterioles, and in which the arterioles with inner-lumen diameters between about 50-200 microns are plentiful.
In another embodiment of the invention, discussed below, the source of oxygenated blood is the interior of a ventricle chamber, where the method is practiced in a manner to promote blood supply between the interior of the chamber, across the endocardium, to the myocardial layer.
The oxygenated blood supply that is identified is proximate to a boundary or boundary portion 56 (
The area between the identified source of oxygenated blood and the underperfused region, including the boundary portion of the underperfused region, and the tissue expanse 58 between the underperfused region and the source of oxygenated blood, is identified from the imaging step as a target area 60 (typically a volumetric region) at which the stimulus for angiogenesis is to be introduced, as will be described. Within this target area, the user will identify a plurality of sites, such as indicated at 62, at which a stimulus will be applied. The sites in the target area have a preferred site-to-site spacing of between about 0.5 to 1 cm.
A variety of tools are available for imaging the heart, and localizing regions of subnormal blood circulation. One such tool involves monitoring blood flow in the heart by myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) by single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) positron-emission tomography (PET), echoplanar imaging or angiography. These techniques are described in the literature (e.g., Amanullah, Mannting, Golub, Hansen, Toma, Dietlein, Sand, Marwick, Yang, Inuoe, and Nishimura).
Alternatively, or in addition, the patient's heart can be imaged by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including myocardial perfusion imaging by dynamic contrast MRI. Pertinent methods have been detailed in the literature (e.g., Furber, Lauerma, and Sechtem). Thallium scintigraphy is yet another imaging method technique available (e.g., Machecourt).
In addition an assessment is made to determine the pre-existing level of tissue demand for oxygenated blood. The heart has naturally occurring angiogenesis when disease progression occurs slowly so the high stress/exercise demand periods requiring blood flow do not exceed the compromised supply. By way of example a Class 4 Angina (measure of chest pain and class 4 is usually indicative of near constant pain) would be a good indicator of high level demand for new capillary growth. When high grade angina is not present patients will typically receive an exercise or chemical stress test where cardiac reserve can be quantified. Physicians may also use their own predictive skills when finding a high grade, non-symptomatic untreatable distal coronary artery blockage. When high grade demand is not present it can be added by using a biologic trigger as described herein. When general health permits demand can be increased with exercise.
Once the target-area and sites within this area have been identified, a stimulus effective to stimulate angiogenesis in the myocardial tissue from the source of the oxygenated blood to the underperfused region is introduced at each of the target sites. As will be discussed in detail below, the stimulus may be an angiogenic growth factor that is introduced either as a growth-factor protein, a vector capable of transfecting myocardial cells to produce the desired protein growth factor, or cells which have been transfected in vitro to contain the desired growth factor. Alternatively, the stimulus may be a biological trigger, such as a tissue injury produced by a mechanical, laser, electrical, radio frequency, chemical, thermal, or ultrasonic injury. The stimuli introduced may be in the form of a combination of growth factor and injury.
The initial angiogenic event is a capillary blush, such as indicated at 64 in
In accordance with the invention, an effective, and long-term vascular network from the source of oxygenated blood to the underperfused region is created by maintaining a sustained oxygen demand (or creating conditions of a natural sustained demand), until the capillary blush matures into a network of arterioles, such as indicated at 66 in
Thus, the treatment method has three key features: (i) the identification of a target site between an area of oxygenated blood supply and an underperfused region, (ii) the introduction of angiogenic stimuli in this area, to create a capillary blush in the area, and (iii) conditions of a sustained demand, produced either naturally or artificially, that cause the capillary blush to develop into a mature vasculature between the areas of supply and demand.
Stimulating Angiogenesis by Growth Factor
In one general embodiment of the invention, the stimulus introduced into the target-area sites is a growth factor effective to induce angiogenesis in the myocardial sites where it is introduced, including area surrounding the sites. Exemplary growth factors include basic and acidic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2 and FGF-1, respectively), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet derived growth factor (PDGF), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), angiopoietin-1, angiopoietin-2, and combinations of two or more of these growth factors, including as angiopoietin-1 in combination with VEGF. Typical growth-factor doses, such as those given for VEGF (Murayama) or FGF-2 (Hasegawa), can be found in the literature. The growth factor introduced may be in the form of (a) a protein, typically made by recombinant methods, (b) a vector containing the coding region for the growth factor under the control of suitable human regulatory elements, or (c) myocardial cells which have been transfected in vitro to express the selected growth factor. Alternatively, the growth factor may be introduced through special cells, such as bone-marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), that may contribute to neovascularization, introduced either alone or in combination with growth factors, such as VEGF, known to mobilize EPCs.
The growth factor may be introduced by a variety of means including (i) injecting the protein, vector, or transformed myocardial cells directly into myocardial tissue at each target-area site, (ii) drawing the protein or vector into myocardial tissue at each site by iontophoresis from a reservoir placed against the site, (iii) forming a channel in the myocardium at each site, and placing the protein, vector or cells into the channel, and (iv) bombarding each site with a biolistic particle containing or coated with the protein, vector or cells.
Methods for injecting pharmaceutical agents into myocardial tissue are known in the art, e.g., as detailed U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,685,853 and 5,661,133. One preferred device is the drug-delivery module disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/080,892, filed Sep. 24 1998, which is incorporated herein by reference. Briefly, this device allows successive regulated introduction of a metered amount of a drug agent into a cardiac site, for example, as an attachment to an endoscope. The drug-delivery device may also be equipped with a sensing device, such as the ultrasound device disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/852,977, filed May 7, 1997, also incorporated herein by reference, which provides the user with information about the distance of the injection head from the surface of the heart.
Ionotophoretic administration of a growth factor protein or vector may be carried out by placing embedding the protein in a porous electrode, placing the electrode against the pericardial wall corresponding to one of the target sites, and applying a current across the electrode. The counter-electrode may be any attached to any external site on the patient.
A variety of tools are available for forming transmyocardial channels, e.g., by laser ablation, ultrasound, mechanical means, or the like, and these tools may be combined with suitable delivery tools for introducing into the channels, the selected protein, vector, or transformed cells. One suitable drug delivery device that employs laser ablation for drug delivery is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,925,012, which is incorporated herein by reference.
For biolistic introduction of growth-factor protein, vectors or transformed cells are known, the agent to be delivered is introduced into a high-pressure stream of fluid, e.g., air or water, and directed against the pericardial surface of the heart. Alternatively, the device may be designed to puncture the pericardium, and introduce the material in a high-pressure stream directly into the myocardial layer.
Methods for producing human growth factors are known, e.g., by recombinant production are known, as are vectors suitable for transforming human cells to achieve expression of selected growth factors. Myocardial cells transformed in vitro with angiogenic growth factors, and injected into myocardial tissue have also been reported.
The growth factor may be introduced in free, that is, solution or suspension form, encapsulated within suitable carriers, such as liposomes or biodegradable particles. Gold particles suitable for biolistics, are well known, as are methods for introducing projectile particles into tissue.
The introducing step may be carried out in a manner that achieves a desired spatial or temporal pattern of growth factors at the target-area sites. The pattern shown in
The pattern of growth factor shown in
Stimulating Angiogenesis by Injury
In another general embodiment of the treatment method, the angiogenic stimulus is provided by a biologic trigger, an injury to the myocardial tissue, either alone or in combination with an angiogenic growth factor. Heart-muscle injury is known to produce a sequence of biochemical responses that ultimately lead to angiogenesis. This sequence generally involves a hypoxic condition following injury, leading to build up of lactic acid in the injured area, which stimulates macrophage infiltration into the injury site, stimulation of angiogenic factors by the macrophages and, in response to the growth factors, epithelial cell proliferation leading to capillary formation.
One feature of injury as an angiogenic stimulus is that the injury may also contribute to the sustained demand for oxygen necessary for stable vasculature development in the target area and underperfused region. That is, until the injury is resolved, the body will attempt to supply the injury area with increased blood supply as part of the response to injury. The ideal injury is a recurrent injury, and/or one slow to resolve, but at the same time, is resolved with a minimum of scarring, which is the body's way of resolving an area of cells destroyed by the injury and where the degree of surrounding inflammatory and angiogenic effect is maximized or compliments the co-delivered angiogenic compound. For example a more thermal injury is slower healing and might compliment a time release gel-based angiogenic drug co-placement, while a more abrasive/inflammatory injury might compliment a short lived gene or protein construct.
In each of the injury methods outlined above, the injury can be combined with added growth-factor stimuli to augment or accelerate the development of the original capillary blush, or to augment the development of a mature vasculature in the target area. For example, in the channel injury illustrated in
In a second general embodiment, the source of oxygenated blood flow for supplying an underperfused myocardial region is the interior of the heart's left or right ventricle walls. Normally, blood passing from the interior ventricle chambers into the myocardium supplies only about 20% of the oxygen needs of the heart, the other 80% being supplied coronary arteries surrounding the outside of the heart. In subjects having adequate oxygen supply to the heart muscles, the relatively non-porous endocardium, which limits blood flow from the ventricle chambers into the myocardium serves to hold blood dampen extremes of pressure occurring in the ventricles. However, in subjects with underperfused regions of myocardium, it would be useful to make localized wall regions of the ventricle more porous, to allow direct blood supply from the ventricle interior to the adjacent undersupplied myocardium.
This is done, in accordance with this general embodiment, by using a biological trigger to produce an injury to the ventricle wall, adjacent the underperfused regions and/or by introducing growth factors at sites in a target area located between the underperfused regions and immediately “underlying” endocardium. The method is illustrated in
The treatment method also contemplates treating an underperfused region of the heart by combining the treatment directed at the “outer” boundary of the region, as described with respect to
As already noted, the treatment method requires continued demand for oxygen at the underperfused site to convert the initial capillary blush into a more stable and effective oxygen supply from the blood-supply source.
In one general embodiment, detailed below, the demand for oxygen is maintained by stressing the underperfused region by exercise. Briefly, the patient is equipped with an exercise monitor that indicates the level and amount of heart exercise the patient achieves. Typically, the patient should begin the exercise regimen within 3-8 days following the introduction of angiogenic stimuli to the heart. The patient is required to achieve a given exercise level for a period of at least 14 days, and preferably for a period of 2-3 months, following capillary blush formation. The amount and level of heart exercise is effective to stimulate the conversion of capillary blush produced by said step (b) to arterioles in the target area. The level can be readily derived from reviewing the result of a patients baseline exercise stress testing, and developing a heart rate level and time which is both safe and challenging. The exercise monitor can provide the safety and record keeping necessary. A pacemaker may be temporarily or permanently added to exercise the heart.
In another general embodiment, the sustained demand is produced by a slow-healing or recurrent biological trigger, such as outlined above, and also considered in detail below. The demand for oxygenated blood created by the injury is sustained for a period of at least 2-3 months, following capillary blush formation.
Method and Device for Mechanical Coring Injury
One such cutting tool that may be used to produce a subsurface coring injury is shown in its distal portion at 126 in
Sleeve 128 accommodates a piercing element 134 which can be moved radially within the sleeve to project its piercing tip beyond the distal end of the sleeve. In operation, the piercing element is moved to such a position to function to pierce the epicardial layer when the tool is being introduced into the heart muscle, at a selected target-area site in the heart. Once the piercing tip has entered the myocardium, the sleeve may be advanced into the myocardium, with a cutting motion applied to the sleeve, to produce an annular cut through the myocardium tissue, typically about 2-3 mm into the myocardium.
To remove the tool from the heart, after the subsurface coring injury is made the sleeve is removed from the heart muscle, leaving a core injury of the type described in
In operation, the needle is introduced through the pericardium or endocardium into the myocardium at a selected target-area site where injury and optionally, growth factor is to be placed. During this introducing step, blade 144 is retracted into the bore of the needle. As the needle is being inserted a selected depth into the myocardial tissue, the blade is moved out of the needle bore. As the bend in the blade passes through the outer tip of the needle, the tension in the blade causes the distal segment of the blade to extend away from the axis of the needle, as illustrated in
When the blade is partially extended as in
Likewise, when the cutting blade is extended passed its bend, and therefore assumes a full right angle in its cutting segment, as in
Method and Device for Sustained Wire Injury
Another device for generating an injury in accordance with the invention is illustrated in
One such device 156 comprises an elongate wire 158 formed with barbs, such as barbs 160, along its length. Device 156 preferably further includes a flexible thread 162, one end of which is attached to wire 158 and the other end of which engages an external hook 164.
Placement of wire 158 is illustrated in
After insertion, each wire is periodically retracted a small amount, in accordance with the principles of the invention. A crank mechanism 176 in connection with a sleeve 178 that extends through the chest wall may be used to retract the wire, as shown in
At periodic intervals of between 1-7 days, the wire is retracted an indexed amount of about 1 cm in the direction of arrow A by moving the crank handle in the direction of arrow B or otherwise pulling the wire to effect the retraction. These times and distances are exemplary only; the amount of removal and the periodic intervals at which the wire is incrementally removed will vary depending on the healing response curve desired. The result, as shown at 180 in
The details of the construction of wire 158 are illustrated in
In accordance with the principles of the invention, the wire is retracted in steps that are matched to a desired healing response curve. Periodic and discrete retraction of the wire along a predetermined track or path re-injures the tissue and results in a timed sequential injury that promotes arterioles to grow along the track in a more organized pattern, and thus concentrates blood flow along the track. The device may be shaped in other ways as well, including conduits for drug additions.
Method and Device for Endocardial Injury
Tool 184 generally includes a handle 186 by which the operator guides and operates the tool, an elongate, rigid handle extension 188, and a cutter element 190 formed at the distal end of the handle extension. The cutter element has a curved shape, as shown, allowing the element to be placed firmly against the curved wall portion of a ventricle chamber during operation, after (i) the cutter element is introduced through the heart muscle into the ventricle chamber, and (ii) the handle is manipulated to draw the cutter element against a ventricle wall surface.
The cutter element has a recessed segment 192 along which a cutter blade 194 is movable in guide tracks (not shown) under the influence of a cable 196 attached to the blade and a motor 198 housed in handle 186. Control of blade motion is through a switch 200 which activates the motor. A cutter retreat lever 202 is used to reset the blade to its distal cutting position.
In operation, and with additional reference to
The tool may be adapted to produce a variety of ventricle-wall injuries, such as needle injury, coring injury, or laser injury by replacing the movable cutter blade with other injury-producing elements. For example, in the case of a needle injury, the cutter blade may be replaced by a movable needle housing through which a needle can be selectively extended, e.g., by a suitable control in the handle, at spaced intervals along the track of the cutter segment. Likewise, a coring element designed to produce a myocardial coring injury, such as detailed in Section III above, may be used. In addition, or alternatively, the tool may be equipped with a needle or biolistic element for introducing growth factor at selected sites in the selected target area between the ventricle wall and the underperfused region.
The injury and/or growth-factor stimuli introduced by the tool functions initially to stimulate angiogenesis in the region between the endocardial wall and the underperfused region, serving, in effect, to make the endocardium more porous to blood flow from the ventricle chamber to an adjacent region in need of more oxygen. The capillaries forming a capillary bed in response to the stimuli function as one-way blood-cell carriers, through the vaso-action motion of capillaries. Thus, the heart becomes leakier, but only in the desired endocardium-to-myocardium direction. With sustained injury, such as is produced by a channel injury or laser injury, the continued angiogenic stimulus leads to the formation of an arteriole or more robust capillary bed feeding the underperfused region from the ventricle wall. Alternatively, the initial stimulus can be followed by an exercise regimen, as described below, to place a sustained demand on the growing vasculature.
This embodiment of the treatment method may be carried out in conjunction with other aspects of the invention that treat the underperfused region from the “epicardial” side of the underperfused region, or independently. An advantage of the combined methods is that the region in need of greater oxygen supply is revascularized from both sides of the heart wall. A second advantage is that the sustained demand placed on the region, such as by exercise, will contribute to vascularization being created on both inner and out sides of the underperfused region.
Method and Device for Sustained Stimulus by Exercise
In addition to long-term or recurrent injury, the oxygen demand within the underperfused region can be sustained by requiring the patient to achieve a desired level of exercise, as measured by an elevated heart rate, e.g., a 50-100% increase in heart rate over the resting rate, for a selected daily period, typically at least ½ hour per day. The exercise regimen should begin at least by week 4 following the initial angiogenic stimuli, and be continued at least through week 15-16 following the initial stimuli. The desired end point is conversion of capillary blush to a more robust arteriole system, and the transformation of vasculature can be followed by imaging techniques noted above.
If desired, a pacemaker may be added to stimulate the heart at regular exercise intervals.
The monitoring and tracking components of the device are illustrated in
The operation of the device is illustrated in
At the end of the exercise regimen, the user may be examined to confirm formation of arteriole blood supply to the underperfused region. Alternatively, the patient will be able to report improvement in vascularization of the heart through such measures as increased exercise tolerance, quality of life, or relief from cardiac insufficiency symptoms, such as resting or exercise-induced chest pain.
From the foregoing, it can be appreciated how various objects and features of the invention are met. In particular, the present invention addresses the problem: how can an underperfused region of the heart, and therefore a region at risk or infarct and muscle loss, be efficiently re-supplied with an adequate supply of oxygen with a minimum of anatomical damage to the heart.
Although the prior-art recognized the ability of angiogenic stimuli, including both growth factors and injury, to stimulate angiogenesis in the heart, the present invention extends this solution in two key respects. First, by imaging the heart to identify and localize the underperfused region, and localizing this region with respect to the adjacent supply of oxygenated blood, the sites of angiogenic stimulus can be localized to optimally extend from the source of oxygenated blood to ward the site of demand (the underperfused region). This significantly enhances of the efficiency of capillary blush formation. Secondly, by applying a sustained demand to the region where capillary blush has occurred, the initial capillary formation is assured of developing into a stable and robust vascular supply to the underperfused region.
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|U.S. Classification||600/427, 600/508, 604/20, 606/27, 604/57, 604/22, 607/89, 601/2, 606/185, 606/14, 607/99|
|International Classification||A61B17/34, A61B17/32, A61B17/00, A61B18/14, A61B18/22, A61B19/00, A61B5/00|
|Cooperative Classification||A61B18/22, A61B17/3478, A61B17/3417, A61B2090/036, A61B2018/00392, A61B18/1492, A61B2017/00247, A61B17/32053|
|European Classification||A61B17/34Q, A61B17/34G, A61B17/3205G|
|21 Oct 2008||CC||Certificate of correction|
|23 Sep 2011||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4
|9 Dec 2015||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 8