Abstract: Medical delivery system for accessing a tricuspid valve via an inferior vena cava, including an outer guide catheter, an inner guide catheter and an interventional catheter. The first deflection portion of the outer guide catheter is steerable to define a first outer-guide-catheter curve and the second deflection portion of the outer guide catheter is steerable to define a second outer-guide-catheter curve and the first deflection portion of the inner guide catheter is steerable to define a first inner-guide-catheter curve.

Abstract: The invention relates to a medical device and a method of using it. The device is a stent which can be percutaneously deliverable with (or on) an endovascular catheter or via other surgical or other techniques and then expanded. The stent is configured to have a central portion defined by “open” cells and at least two end portions, defined by “closed” cells, spaced apart and directly connected to the distal and proximal ends of the central portion of the stent. The stent may also optionally have a covering or a lattice with openings.

Abstract: A coronary stent is disclosed herein as having a lattice configuration on a generally thin-walled cylindrical tube. This particular stent is fabricated using an elongated thin-walled tubular solid that has a diameter equal to that of the final expanded configuration of the stent. In other words, the lattice configuration is cut onto the surface of the tubular solid that has a diameter substantially equal to the inner diameter of the blood vessel for which the stent is intended. The tubular lattice is then shrunk (collapsed) axisymmetrically to a new cylindrical configuration with a diameter substantially less than the blood vessel for which the stent is intended. The stent in its reduced diameter state can then be delivered to a desired site in the body via a catheter with an inflatable balloon at its distal portion. Upon the inflation of the balloon, the stent will assume its expanded, deployed configuration into the original diameter at the desired site in the body.

Abstract: A biased cell configured to flex out-of-plane upon application of a lateral or circumferential force applied to the biased cell, the biased cell having an elongate member projecting axially from an apex of the biased cell that flexes out-of-plane concomitantly with out-of-plane flexion of the biased cell. An integral and monolithic hypotube is fashioned into a lattice structure having a plurality of biased cells and elongate members and is capable of being configured into a cardiac valve. Transluminally implantable cardiac valves configured for use in cardiac valve replacement and/or cardiac valve exclusion that are capable of percutaneous delivery on low-profile catheters having 15 French size or less. The implantable cardiac valves are fabricated of from a unitary metal material to form a lattice frame support having a main body portion and valve leaflet portion, and a plurality of elongate biasing arm members.

Abstract: Bioabsorbable medical devices such as vascular closures, mitral chorea replacements, and mitral leaflet extensions are provided.

Abstract: Apparatus, systems, and methods for percutaneous valve replacement and/or augmentation are provided. The apparatus includes a valve having a valve frame, a valve leaflet coupled to the valve frame, and a leaflet transition member coupled to the valve leaflet. The valve leaflet and leaflet transition member can transition from a first position where the valve leaflet and leaflet frame are at least partially outside a lumen of the valve frame to a second position where the valve leaflet and the leaflet transition member are within the lumen of the valve frame.

Abstract: A prosthetic valve may be formed to direct flow out of the outflow orifice toward a posterior portion of a heart wall. The prosthetic valve includes an expandable frame which may be covered with a cover that is suturelessly attached to the frame. The prosthetic valve may also include an outflow orifice size which is controlled. Methods of using these devices are also disclosed.

Abstract: A ringless web is configured to repair heart valve function in patients suffering from degenerative mitral valve regurgitation (DMR) or functional mitral valve regurgitation (FMR). In accordance with various embodiments, a ringless web can be anchored at one or more locations below the valve plane in the ventricle, such as at a papillary muscle, and one or more locations above the valve plane, such as in the valve annulus. A tensioning mechanism connecting the ringless web to one or more of the anchors can be used to adjust a tension of the web such that web restrains the leaflet to prevent prolapse by restricting leaflet motion to the coaptation zone and/or promotes natural coaptation of the valve leaflets.

Abstract: A replacement heart valve system and a method of implanting a replacement heart valve in a patient. The replacement heart valve system includes a radially self-expandable tubular body and a valve including a plurality of leaflets coupled to the tubular body. The tubular body includes interconnected struts defining circumferential rows of cells, and has an outflow end and an inflow end that flares radially outward so as to have a larger outer diameter than that of the outflow end. A first row of proximal-most cells formed at the inflow end includes circumferentially adjacent cells that are disconnected from each other so as to be spaced from each other in the circumferential direction. A method of implanting the replacement heart valve includes delivering from a delivery catheter the tubular body, and expanding the tubular body such that the proximal-most cells are disposed against the native heart valve annulus.

Abstract: A venous valve replacement device includes a stent with a blood flow channel and two leaflets connected to the stent, wherein one side of each leaflet is configured as a fixed edge connected with the stent, and the other side is configured as a movable edge, and wherein the movable edges of the two leaflets cooperates with each other to open or close the blood flow channel, and the movable edges of the two leaflets are provided with flaps that attach to each other in a closed configuration.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure include a cardiac device comprising a band configured to form a loop within a heart and including a first end and a second end, a plurality of sequential locking segments located in a region of the band near the second end, and an actuatable clasp located at or near the first end. Each locking segment may have a ledged region and a ramped region. The actuatable clasp may be configured to form a fixed length loop by locking onto the ledged region of a locking segment after the second end has been inserted into the clasp. Adjacent locking segments may be configured to flex relative to each other, thereby enabling adjacent ramped regions to cooperate with each other to facilitate a sliding of the segments into the clasp.

Abstract: Some embodiments are directed to a transcatheter and serially-expandable artificial heart valve, e.g., to be minimally-invasively implanted into a pediatric patient during a first procedure, and then expanded during a second procedure to accommodate for the pediatric patient's growth. Some embodiments include an expandable frame having a compressed, delivery configuration, and an expanded, deployed configuration, in which the valve is implantable within the patient. The valve can have a first working condition when the frame is expanded to a first diameter and a second working condition when the frame is expanded to a second diameter greater than the first diameter. The valve can include a plurality of leaflets configured to accommodate the expansion of the frame and growth of the patient.

Abstract: A stent device with skirt folds and a processing method thereof, a skirt folding method, and a heart valve. The stent device comprises a stent (1, 10) and a flexible skirt (2, 107), the skirt (2, 107) having an expanded state, in which the skirt is axially extended and surrounds the stent (1, 105) before release thereof, and a folded state, in which the skirt is driven by the deformation caused when the stent (1, 105) is released, collapses and folds axially along the released stent (1, 105) so as to form an annular peripheral leakage-blocking portion. The peripheral leakage prevention technology enables an interventional stent to fit to the inner wall of a vessel more snugly, such that the stent does not easily move and is more stable, thereby being suitable for more people, reducing additional risks of surgery and preventing complications such as peripheral leakage and thrombus.

Abstract: The presently disclosed subject matter provides a biomimetic organ model, and methods of its production and use. In one exemplary embodiment, the biomimetic organ model can be a multi-layer model including a at least two microchannels and at least one chamber slab with at least one membrane coated with cells disposed between at least one microchannel and the at least one chamber slab. In another exemplary embodiment, the biomimetic organ disease model can be a five-layer model including a first and second microchannel with a membrane-gel layer-membrane coated or encompassing cells disposed between the microchannels. In certain embodiments, at least one device can be coupled to the biomimetic organ model that delivers an agent to at least one microchannel.

Abstract: A transcatheter atrio-ventricular valve prosthesis for functional replacement of an atrio-ventricular valve in a connection channel, having a circumferential connection channel wall structure, between atrial and ventricular chambers of a heart, including an inner device to be disposed in the interior of the connection channel, the inner device having a circumferential support structure which is radially expandable and having a valve attached to the circumferential support structure, and an outer device to be disposed on the exterior of the connection channel, wherein the outer device at least partly extends around the inner device at a radial distance to the inner device, wherein the inner and outer devices form a securing mechanism for securing the circumferential connection channel wall structure therebetween.

Abstract: A prosthetic heart valve may include a collapsible and expandable stent, a cuff attached to an annulus section of the stent, and a plurality of leaflets attached to at least one of the cuff or the stent within an interior region of the stent. The stent may have a plurality of cells connected to one another in a plurality of annular rows around the stent. The leaflets together may have a coapted position occluding the interior region of the stent and an open position in which the interior region is not occluded. Each leaflet may include a flat mesh of braided wire material having a plurality of pores extending therethrough. The leaflets may be devoid of biological material at a time of implantation.

Abstract: A stent having an improved anti-sliding function is proposed. The stent includes an inner stent and a pair of outer stents that have undergone heat treatment and have several spaces formed by weaving or crossing wires made of a superelastic shape memory alloy in a hollow cylindrical net shape, in which each of the outer stents is shorter than the inner stent and has an enlarged section having a diameter larger than the inner stent and a bending section formed by bending inward a side of the enlarged section; and the pair of outer stents are fitted on both ends of the inner stent such that the enlarged sections of the outer stents face each other, and spaces of the inner stent and spaces of the bending sections of the outer stents are connected by a connection thread, whereby a space section is defined between the inner stent and the outer stents.

Abstract: An implantable valve prosthesis for preventing blood reflux from a cardiac atrium into a vein opening into the atrium, with a generally tubular stent (2), also a flexible tube (3) that can be closed by collapsing the tube (3) and which is arranged at least in a partial area of a second end section (9) of the stent (2) on the outer peripheral surface. The second end opening (11) of the flexible tube (3) is open in the pressureless state. As a result of this valve design, during a physiological flow out of the pulmonary vein in the direction of the left atrium or out of the caval vein in the direction of the right atrium, there is no rise or an only insubstantial rise in the resistance to flow.

Abstract: A medical implant may include an expandable anchor member having a lumen extending through the expandable anchor member from an inflow end to an outflow end; a plurality of valve leaflets disposed within the lumen extending through the expandable anchor member; a seal member disposed adjacent an exterior of the expandable anchor member; and a porous material extending from the seal member to the plurality of valve leaflets.

Abstract: A motion assistance apparatus includes a waist frame configured to support a waist of a user, and a proximal support configured to support a proximal part of the user. A pressure applied to a thigh of the user by the proximal support in a sitting state in which the user is sitting may be greater than a pressure applied to the thigh of the user by the proximal support in a standing state in which the user is standing upright.