Development of new instruments for beating heart bypass anastomosis during mini-invasive procedures

The present paper deals with the concept, design and experimental studies realized for the development of a new generation of bypass grafting devices to be used during minimally invasive procedures. The work has been done in the framework of the BMBF "MISS" project (for "Mini-Invasive Smart Suture"), in collaboration with CEA LIST, a French Carnot Institute. The surgical procedure concerned is an anastomosis, which can be used during beating heart coronary artery bypass grafting. Two types of devices are presented. The first one has the aim to reproduce, as close as possible, a real suture made of surgical thread. The second one allows the use of dedicated staples.