Abstract: An apparatus includes a plurality of beads a linking assembly joining the beads together. The beads and the linking assembly are arranged in an annular arrangement and sized to form a loop around an anatomical structure in a patient. The loop may move between a contracted and expanded configuration. The loop is magnetically biased toward the contracted configuration by a magnetic bias of the beads. Each bead includes a housing having a first piece and a second piece that together define a magnetic chamber. A magnetic is within the magnetic chamber. A weld joins the first piece and the second piece while hermetically sealing the magnet chamber. The first piece of the housing includes a mounting feature integrated with a surface of the first piece. The mounting feature mates with a fixture to constrain the first piece of the housing as the weld is formed.

Abstract: A fetus delivery assisting device (10) for assisting with the birth of a fetus. The device (10) comprises a shaft (16). At one end of the shaft (16) is a rigid base (18) to which an inflatable balloon (12) is mounted. The rigid base (18) and the inflatable balloon (12) are configured to accept a fetal head. The inflatable balloon (12) is configured to displace the fetal head from a pelvic cavity when inflated. The shaft (16) is configured for manipulating the inflatable balloon (12) to displace the fetal head from the pelvic cavity.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and devices to facilitate insertion of certain leads with electrode(s) into patients are described. Leads can be implanted to work in conjunction with a cardiac pacemaker or cardiac defibrillator. A lead for cardiac therapy may be inserted into an intercostal space associated with the cardiac notch of a patient. Devices for delivery may include, for example, a delivery system coupled with an electrical lead and having a handle, a component advancer and insertion tips. The handle is configured to be actuated by an operator and the component advancer is configured to advance an electrical lead into the patient. The insertion tips can be configured to close around the electrical lead within the component advancer, to push through biological tissue, and to open to enable the lead to advance into the patient. The electrical lead can also be maintained in a particular orientation during the advancement into the patient.

Abstract: A blade for a cutting instrument includes a handle, a body, and at least three cutting edges along the body. The body has first and second sides extending along a longitudinal center axis. The body has a proximal end at the handle and a distal tip remote from the handle. The at least three cutting edges are oriented at corresponding angles with respect to the longitudinal center axis and are asymmetrically distributed with respect to the longitudinal center axis.

Abstract: Proposed is a trocar system for a laparoscopic surgery, the trocar system preventing improper suturing caused by shaking of the focus of a suturing needle during suturing of the peritoneal hole of the peritoneum after completion of a laparoscopic surgery, and including a suturing needle guide member having first and second suturing needle guide holes, a trocar unit detachably coupled to the suturing needle guide member and having third, fourth, fifth, and sixth suturing needle guide holes, a trocar to which the suturing needle guide member is detachably coupled and which is provided with seventh and eighth suturing needle guide holes, and a suturing needle provided with suturing thread guided through the first, third, fifth, and seventh suturing needle guide holes and second, fourth, sixth, and eighth suturing needle guide holes.

Abstract: Described here are methods, systems, and devices, useful for minimally invasive surgical procedures. The methods may include introducing a grasper through an opening into an abdominal cavity, grasping a portion of a left lobe of a liver with the grasper, rotating the grasper towards a control element located outside the abdominal cavity by applying a magnetic field to the grasper across a body wall, and moving the control element over a set of ribs such that the liver bends into a folded configuration.

Abstract: An apparatus, system and method for a phacoemulsification handpiece. Included are: at least a first segment having a longitudinal axis, and a first end and a second end, wherein at least aspiration, irrigation and power inputs enter the first end; a second segment along the longitudinal axis and comprising, at a distalmost portion thereof from the first segment, a needle powered by the power input, an aspiration output, and an irrigation output; a rotating coupler capable of coupling the second end of the first segment and the second segment to enable independent axial rotation about the longitudinal axis of the first segment from the second segment; and a plurality of flexible tubing passing substantially along the longitudinal axis within both the first segment and the second segment. The plurality of flexible tubing flexes within the first and second segments and within the rotating coupler so as not to bind during the independent axial rotation.

Abstract: A device for assisting surgery includes means for offsetting a rotation of a first type and a second type, a mechanism for transmitting a rotation of a third type, and a mechanism for transforming the rotation of a third type into a translation. An elastic element is connected at one end to the mechanism for transmitting the rotation of a third type. The mechanism for transmitting the rotation of a third type is connected to a rotary motor, the rotation of the motor in a first direction causing the lowering of a tool and an elongation of the elastic element, the rotation of the motor in a second direction causing the raising of the tool and a contraction of the elastic element, and, when the tool is lowered and the rotary motor is not exerting any torque, the elastic element returns to an initial shape causing the raising of the tool.

Abstract: The disclosed technology provides a device (10) for sealing an aperture in a tissue of a body lumen. The device includes a flexible support member (14) having a base (19) configured to engage and/or hold a sealable member (12) of the device against an interior surface of the tissue when the device is in the sealing position. The device also includes a locator (16) coupled to the support member and configured to engage with a wall of the body lumen to secure the device thereto.

Abstract: A system for delivering an intraocular lens (IOL) is disclosed, including: a handpiece including a barrel defining an elongate passage, a pushrod disposed inside the elongate passage, and a plunger coupled to the pushrod; and a delivery unit coupled to a first end of the barrel, the delivery unit including a delivery tube and a lens holder coupled to the delivery tube, the lens holder including a lead haptic shelf arranged to receive a lead haptic of an IOL that is contained inside the lens holder, wherein the lead haptic shelf is configured to fold the lead haptic of the IOL over a body of the IOL while permitting the IOL to travel under the lead haptic shelf when the IOL is displaced from the lens holder to the delivery tube by the pushrod during delivery of the IOL into a patient's eye.

Abstract: A perforator-integral suture anchor device is proposed. More specifically, it simultaneously inserts and fixes the suture anchor into the bone while the pilot hole in the bone is forming when an anchor driver is pressed and rotated. The perforator-integral suture anchor device includes the suture anchor having threads formed on an outer circumferential surface thereof, and the anchor driver capable of pressing and rotating the suture anchor, wherein the anchor driver includes a plurality of guide arms protruding forward by being spaced apart from each other relative to a central axis of the anchor driver, and a perforating tip formed at a front end of each of the guide arms, and the suture anchor includes a plurality of female coupling grooves recessed on an outer surface of the suture anchor in a longitudinal direction thereof and allowing the suture anchor to be coupled to the plurality of guide arms.

Abstract: A surgical end effector includes a clevis and two jaws rotatably coupled to the clevis. A rocking pin in the form of a solid of revolution is pivotally supported by the clevis. The rocking pin may be pivotally supported by the clevis at the midpoint between the first and second ends. The opposite ends of the rocking pin engage the jaws to constrain the jaws to have opposite motions around the axes of rotation of the jaws. The clevis may be coupled to an elongate shaft to provide an endoscopic instrument. The first and second jaws may be electrically isolated from one another for electrocautery and the rocking pin may be formed from a non-conductive material or electrically isolated from the first and second jaws by electrically non-conductive liners. The jaws may be opened and closed by pushing and pulling on wires coupled to the jaws.

Abstract: An anastomosis set for anastomosing a first end to be anastomosed with a second end to be anastomosed, such anastomosis set comprising: a first manipulator, with a first telescoping part at a distal end thereof, the first telescoping part is used for telescoping toward the first end to be anastomosed; a second manipulator, with a second telescoping part at a distal end thereof, the second telescoping part is used for telescoping toward the second end to be anastomosed; and an anastomosis mechanism for anastomosing the first end to be anastomosed with the second end to be anastomosed; the first manipulator including a first exit part through which the first manipulator will be removed from the first end to be anastomosed after anastomosing; the second manipulator has a second exit part, through which the second manipulator will be removed from the second end to be anastomosed after anastomosing.

Abstract: A method is described for use with a heart of a subject, the heart having a valve and an atrium upstream of the valve. The method includes transluminally advancing multiple tissue anchors to the atrium; and securing an elongate contraction member at least partly around an annulus of the valve by anchoring the tissue anchors to the annulus, such that the tissue anchors are distributed along the elongate contraction member. The method further includes subsequently contracting the annulus by applying tension the elongate contraction member, such that a radiopaque indicator that is disposed within the heart and that is coupled to the contraction member undergoes a conformational change in response to the tension. The conformational change of the radiopaque indicator within the heart is observed, and the tension is adjusted responsively to the observed conformational change. Other embodiments are also described.

Abstract: An insertion tool for creating a subcutaneous pocket and implanting a device in the pocket. The tool may include a cannula extending from a handle, a dissector tip disposed at a distal end of the cannula, and a rod. The cannula and dissector tip may create the pocket. The cannula may include a passage and an opening into the passage, and the cannula may be disposed in the passage and move along the passage between a retracted position and an extended position. The rod and the cannula may be configured such that, when the rod is at the retracted position, the cannula holds the device in the passage, and as the cannula moves from the extended position to the retracted position, the rod forces the device through the opening at the distal end of the cannula, at least partially out of the cannula, and at least partially into the pocket.

Abstract: A medical device is able to achieve a high aspiration pressure while also effectively transmitting rotational torque to a cutting portion to remove an object inside a biological lumen. The medical device includes a drive shaft, an outer tube accommodating the drive shaft, a cutting portion fixed to the drive shaft, and a hub unit. The hub unit has a first housing with an aspiration port, a second housing with a liquid delivering port, and first and second seal portions disposed between the second housing and the drive shaft. The first seal portion has a first frictional coefficient, and the second seal portion has a second frictional coefficient. The first frictional coefficient is lower than the second frictional coefficient, and the first seal portion is located on a distal side of the second seal portion.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure include a method for conditioning ex vivo pericardial tissue that has a parietal side and a fibrous side from which fibers extend. A blade assembly includes a blade head having a blade array and a face that defines gaps therein. The parietal side of the tissue is placed downward against a support plate, and a motor is operated to move the blade array with respect to the face. The face contacts the tissue such that the fibers protrude through the gaps and into the blade head. The blade array shears the fibers that protrude through the gaps into the blade head, yielding sheared fibers. Other embodiments are also described.

Abstract: A device for treating tissue includes a clip including clip arms and a coupler. Each of the clip arms extends from a proximal end to a distal end. Proximal ends of the clip arms are slidably received within a channel of a capsule. A proximal end of the capsule includes openings extending through a wall. The coupler is mounted over the proximal end of the capsule via deployment arms including engaging features extending laterally inward from an interior surface thereof to engage the openings of the capsule. The coupler includes retention arms configured to engage a corresponding portion of an applicator. When a pre-determined compressive force is applied to the coupler, the deployment arms are proximally slidable along the corresponding portion of the applicator to deflect the deployment arms out of engagement with the capsule so that the coupler is separable from the capsule.

Abstract: A phacoemulsification apparatus includes an ultrasound transmitter, an irrigation-aspiration tool, a robotic arm, and a processor. The ultrasound transmitter is configured to generate and focus an ultrasound beam into a lens capsule of an eye of a patient, to emulsify a lens of the eye. The irrigation-aspiration tool having a distal end including an outlet of an irrigation channel for flowing irrigation fluid into the lens capsule, and an inlet of an aspiration channel for removing material from the lens capsule. The robotic arm is configured to move the distal end of the irrigation-aspiration tool inside the lens capsule. The processor is configured to control the ultrasound transmitter to irradiate one or more target locations in the eye capsule with the focused ultrasound beam, and control the robotic arm to move the distal end of the irrigation-aspiration tool in coordination with the target locations irradiated by the ultrasound transmitter.

Abstract: Provided is a locking apparatus, and more particularly, to a locking apparatus with improved locking performance as a locking unit is stuck between different members capable of moving relative to each other and in which locking is released as an unlocking unit pushes the locking unit.