Abstract: Apparatus and methods to reduce ventricular volume are disclosed. The device takes the form of a transventricular anchor, which presses a portion of the ventricular wall inward, thereby reducing the available volume of the ventricle. The anchor is deployed using a curved introducer that may be inserted into one ventricle, through the septum and into the opposite ventricle. Barbs or protrusions along the anchor body combined with a mechanical stop and a sealing member hold the device in place once deployed.

Abstract: A method for use in reconstructing the left ventricle of the heart of a patient from a diseased state to an appropriate reconstructed state is disclosed. The method includes the steps of determining the body surface area of the patient; determining a characteristic of the left ventricle which is the same in the diseased state as in the reconstructed state; determining an appropriate sizer based on the determined body surface area of the patient and the characteristic of the left ventricle which is the same in the diseased state as in the reconstructed state; identifying akinetic tissue within a heart chamber wall; making an incision through the akinetic tissue in the chamber wall; inserting said appropriate sizer into the chamber through the incision; removing the sizer; and, closing the incision.

Abstract: A method for reducing left ventricular volume, which comprises identifying infarcted tissue during open chest surgery; reducing left ventricle volume while preserving the ventricular apex; and realigning the ventricular apex, such that the realigning step comprises closing the lower or apical portion of said ventricle to achieve appropriate functional contractile geometry of said ventricle in a dyskinetic ventricle of a heart.