Delivering a conduit into a heart wall to place a coronary vessel in communication with a heart chamber and removing tissue from the vessel or heart wall to facilitate such communication

1. A device for delivering a conduit into the wall of a patient's heart to place the conduit in communication with a heart chamber, the device comprising:

a support member having a length, a proximal end and a distal end;

a conduit supported by the support member;

a sheath overlying at least a portion of the conduit, the sheath being movable to selectively expose the portion of the conduit covered by the sheath;

wherein the sheath is moved to expose said portion of the conduit upon positioning the support member and conduit at a desired location within the wall of the heart;

wherein the conduit comprises a rigid and non-expandable tubular member, and the sheath comprises a sleeve overlying the conduit and;

wherein the conduit has two open ends and a plurality of openings disposed between the two ends.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the support member is substantially straight and rigid over the length and has a sharpened tip for forming an opening in the heart wall.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein the support member has a tapered portion for dilating the opening formed by the distal end of the shaft.

4. The device of claim 2 , wherein the support member comprises a hollow member that removably receives a dilator having the sharpened tip for forming an opening in the heart wall.

5. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a positioning member that provides a visual indication of the position of the conduit with respect to the heart wall.

6. The device of claim 5 , wherein the positioning member comprises markings.

7. The device of claim 1 further comprising means for determining the position of the conduit with respect to the heart wall.