An apparatus (10) for automatically retroperfusing a coronary vein includes anintraluminal cannula (20) having a main body portion (22) extending between aproximal end portion (24) and a distal end portion (26). The proximal endportion is for connecting to an artery outside of the pericardium toautomatically supply oxygenated blood from the artery for retroperfusion. Themain body portion and the distal end portion are insertable through a veinthat is fluidly connected with the coronary vein and into the coronary vein.An expandable stent (50) is attached to the distal end portion for expandingradially into engagement with the interior wall of the coronary vein to securethe distal end portion at a desired location within the coronary vein.Occluding structure (60) for at least partially occluding the coronary vein isprovided at the distal end to decrease the back-flow of blood into the rightatrium during retroperfusion. The cannula includes passages (69) that allow alimited amount of blood to bypass the occluding structure.
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