A device used to treat heart disease by decreasing the size of a diseased
heart, or to prevent further enlargement of a diseased heart. The device
works by limiting the volume of blood entering the heart during each
cardiac cycle. The device partitions blood within the heart, and protects
the heart from excessive volume and pressure of blood. The device is
placed within the interior of the heart, particularly within a
ventricular cavity. The device is a hollow sac, with two openings, which
simulates the shape and size of the interior lining of a ventricle of a
normal heart. It allows the ventricle to fill through one opening
juxtaposed to the annulus of the inflow valve to a predetermined, normal
volume, and limits filling of the heart beyond that volume. It then
allows blood to be easily ejected through the second opening through the
outflow valve. By limiting the amount of blood entering the ventricle,
the ventricle is not subjected to the harmful effect of excessive volume
and pressure of blood during diastole, the period of the cardiac cycle
when the heart is at rest. This allows the heart to decrease in size, or
to reverse remodel, and to recover lost function. In some applications, a
second device may be simultaneously placed inside the heart to take up
excessive space between the heart and the primary device.