The present inyention provides apparatus and methods for facilitating. entrythrough a bodily opening (105) comprising a spreader (20) having a pluralityof arms, each of the arms being formed of a resilient material and shaped so thatthe distal ends tend to be spaced apart from each other when the spreader is in anopen position. At least one Of the arms has an engaging member having a sharpnessadapted to grasp tissue. When the spreader is radially deployed to the open positionthe engaging member (32, 34, 36) grasps tissue adjacent the bodily opening andurges the tissue away from the opening to facilitate visualization of the openingand/or access into the opening. A catheter (50) or other device may subsequentlybe inserted between one or more arms of the spreader and through the bodily openingwhile the spreader holds the tissue in a spread position.
