Abstract: An assistance device and an associated obstetrical instrument, in particular of the forceps type, for extracting a fetus during childbirth having two branches. Each branch being equipped at one end with a gripping handle and at the other end with cephalic blades. The instrument further includes a measurement device using the blades and connector between the measurement device and the blade. The measurement device includes: a pressure measurement instrument configured to measure the pressure exerted by the blade on the fetus, a position measuring instrument to measure the positioning of the obstetrical instrument, a power supply, and a transmitter configured to transmit the measurements to a processing unit.

Abstract: A surgical robot includes a surgical tool including a bendable joint portion, and a bending tendon connected to the joint portion and configured to bend the joint portion, a tube connected to the surgical tool and configured to accommodate the bending tendon therein, a base housing configured to rotatably support the tube and accommodate the bending tendon that passes through the tube, a bending driver configured to grasp the bending tendon, and translate in a longitudinal direction parallel to a rotation axis of the tube with respect to the base housing, and a rotation driver configured to rotatably support the tube with respect to the base housing, wherein when the tube rotates, the rotation driver is connected to one portion of the bending driver that grasps the bending tendon, and rotates the tube and the bending tendon together.

Abstract: A stent delivery device for delivering a self-expanding stent comprises an inner sheath including a proximal end portion and a distal end portion, a stent stopper including a stopper main body that is circumferentially disposed over at least a portion of the inner sheath at the proximal end portion, and at least one projection extending radially outward from the stopper main body for releasably engaging a portion of the self-expanding stent, and an outer sheath slidably disposed over the inner sheath and the stent stopper. The at least one projection includes a distal end surface and a proximal end surface, and the proximal end surface includes a recess extending into a body of the projection toward the distal end surface.

Abstract: A medical apparatus, including a clamp, a work head and a handle; the work head includes a casing, a firing forcing member, a firing rod, a receiving cavity, and a clip-cartridge assembly; an inner cavity communicating with the receiving cavity is formed in the casing; a positioning block is arranged in the inner cavity; the firing forcing member includes a toggle piece and a movable member, the toggle piece having a first connecting part, a second connecting part, and a third connecting part; in condition that the positioning block moves forwards, the toggle piece rotates towards the clamp through the first connecting part to drive the firing rod to control the clamp to open; and in condition that the positioning block moves backwards, the toggle piece rotates towards the handle through the first connecting part to drive the firing rod to control the clamp to close.

Abstract: The invention provides devices, systems and methods for tissue approximation and repair at treatment sites. The devices, systems and methods of the invention will find use in a variety of therapeutic procedures, including endovascular, minimally-invasive, and open surgical procedures, and can be used in various anatomical regions, including the abdomen, thorax, cardiovascular system, heart, intestinal tract, stomach, urinary tract, bladder, lung, and other organs, vessels, and tissues. The invention is particularly useful in those procedures requiring minimally-invasive or endovascular access to remote tissue locations, where the instruments utilized must negotiate long, narrow, and tortuous pathways to the treatment site. In addition, many of the devices and systems of the invention are adapted to be reversible and removable from the patient at any point without interference with or trauma to internal tissues.

Abstract: A medical device for cutting substances inside a body lumen includes a flexible and elongated drive shaft including a distal portion and a proximal portion, a cutting member connected to the distal portion of the drive shaft to be rotatable with the drive shaft, and a hub located at the proximal portion and supporting the drive shaft, the hub including a first bearing mounted on the drive shaft and an elastic ring that is made of an elastic material on an outer periphery of the first bearing.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention are directed to devices, systems and methods adapted for implementing intermittent displacement of blood to mitigate peripheral nerve neuropathy such as that induced by chemotherapeutic agents (i.e., chemotherapy-induced neuropathy (CIN)) that are administered to a patient. Such devices, systems and methods advantageously provide for precise, uniform and controlled blood flow occluding (and optionally blood displacing) compression along irregular surfaces of an appendage of a patient. Such precise, uniform and controlled blood occluding compression is imparted upon the epidermal and dermis skin layers within the aforementioned areas of a patient's extremities to decrease the time that free nerve endings located in the epidermal and encapsulated nerve endings located in the dermis skin layers are exposed to nerve damaging chemotherapy chemicals, thereby substantially decreasing CIN caused by prolonged exposure to such chemicals.

Abstract: A device and method for repair of a patient's aorta is disclosed. The device includes a first component including an outer diameter equal to a first diameter, a second component attached to a distal end of the first component, and a plurality of third components positioned in a chamber defined in the second component. The second component includes a proximal surface extending outwardly from the distal end of the first component, and a plurality of openings defined in the proximal surface. Each third component includes a passageway extending inwardly from an opening of the plurality of openings defined in the proximal surface. Each passageway is sized to receive a tubular conduit, and the proximal surface has an outer edge that defines a second diameter greater than the first diameter.

Abstract: Balloon catheters, sleeves, cages, and endoluminal prostheses are provided with stress-applying and spacing features coupled to expandable surfaces thereof. The stress-applying features may have blunt and/or rounded contact regions which contact tissue or calcified regions in the vasculature. The contact regions dent or fracture occlusive material on the wall of a vascular lumen and/or patient valve leaflets when expanded. The spacing features permit blood, drug, and contrast perfusion past structures expanded in the vasculature, particularly balloon catheters.

Abstract: A surgical apparatus comprises a transducer assembly and a shaft assembly. The transducer assembly is operable to convert electrical power into ultrasonic vibrations. The shaft assembly comprises an ultrasonic waveguide, a sheath, a shroud, and a torque transfer assembly. The waveguide is configured to couple with the transducer assembly. The waveguide is disposed within the sheath. The sheath extends through the shroud. The torque transfer assembly is contained within the shroud. The torque transfer assembly is configured to transfer a predetermined range of torque from the shroud to the waveguide to thereby couple the waveguide with the transducer assembly. The torque transfer assembly is further configured to prevent transfer of torque from the shroud to the waveguide beyond an upper limit of the predetermined range.

Abstract: An embolic implant includes a detachment feature configured to engage and be released from a delivery member's engagement system. The engagement system can include a loop wire extending through an opening of the detachment feature a pull wire extending through the loop wire to secure the detachment feature to a delivery tube of the delivery member. The detachment feature can include a distal extension configured to engage a distal end of the pull wire to inhibit the pull wire from moving distally into the implant. The detachment feature can also include a sleeve to align the pull wire to the distal extension and/or provide a friction force against the pull wire to inhibit longitudinal movement of the distal end of the pull wire.

Abstract: A surgical device controls fluid flow through a vessel by releasable constriction of the vessel using a compressible “C”-shape operating member with first and second elongate flexible members respectively configured to form a first loop and a second loop, the first and second loops intersecting to define an eye surrounding the vessel, wherein the operating member has first and second arms separated by a gap, the first arm being attachable to the first elongate flexible member, the second arm being attachable to the second elongate flexible member, so as to apply tension to the first and second elongate flexible members, the eye being located in the gap, whereby compression of the operating member relaxes tension in the elongate flexible members permitting opening of the eye and fluid flow within the vessel.

Abstract: This disclosure concerns medical devices, such as catheters and implantable devices, having radially adjustable features. More particularly, the catheters and implantable devices can radially expand and contract to perform various functions within the body. Expansion and contraction can be performed by a radially adjustable structure mounted on the medical device. For example, a medical device can include an body configured for in vivo introduction, a strip attached to the body and rolled into a ring such that layers of the strip radially overlap each other, and at least one motor actuatable by electrical energy to move the radially overlapping layers of the strip relative to one another and change a diameter of the ring and the body.

Abstract: A method of endovascularly delivering and implanting a medical assembly for minimally invasively implanting an atrial sealing skirt in the heart at an atrial sealing skirt deployment site, sealing the top brim against a respective atrial floor of the heart, and anchoring the atrial sealing skirt on an intracardiac wall at an implantation site and tethering the anchor and the sealing skirt.

Abstract: Medical systems and methods for making and using medical systems are disclosed. Example medical systems may include an atherectomy system configured to engage and remove plaque from walls in vessels of a vascular system. The atherectomy system may include a drive shaft, a rotational tip coupled to an end of the drive shaft, a drive mechanism coupled to the drive shaft to rotate the rotational tip, a control unit configured to control operation of the drive mechanism, and a knob assembly configured to facilitate longitudinal movement of the drive shaft, the rotational tip, and/or the drive mechanism. In some cases, the knob assembly may be configured to initiate adjustment of a mode of the drive mechanism in response to actuation of an actuator in the knob assembly.

Abstract: An occlusive implant with a backbone support structure can be delivered into a body vessel using a delivery assembly that can engage with at least a portion of the implant. The assembly can utilize an engagement member and an engagement socket or a catheter or sheath to removably couple the engagement member with the implant. When the implant is advanced to a target location in the body vessel, the implant can be released to restrict flow of a fluid through the vessel and/or promote occlusion of the vessel.

Abstract: Methods for applying one or more adjuncts to tissue are provided. In one embodiment, the method can include positioning an adjunct, e.g., using an adhesive, on one of first and second jaws of an end effector of a surgical stapler. In one embodiment, an attachment mechanism on the adjunct can prevent stretching of at least a portion of the adjunct. In other aspects, the adjunct can be maintained on the at least one jaw in a first state in which the adjunct is at least partially stretched over the at least one jaw, and actuation of the surgical stapler can cause the adjunct to transition from the first state to a second state such that the adjunct in the second state at least partially separates from the at least one jaw.

Abstract: A medical device system may include an elongate shaft having a lumen extending from a proximal end to a distal end, a proximal release wire, and a distal release wire. The proximal release wire may extend distally from a proximal end configured to remain outside the body to a distal end and may be slidably disposed within the lumen of the elongate shaft. The proximal release wire may include a distal stopper coupled to the distal end thereof. The distal release wire may extend distally from a proximal end to a distal end and may be slidably disposed within the lumen of the elongate shaft. The proximal end of the distal release wire may be slidably coupled to the distal end of the proximal release wire. The distal release wire may be configured to releasably attach a medical device to the distal end of the elongate shaft.

Abstract: A handheld body cavity access device includes a handle having a distal end, a proximal end, a longitudinal axis, and a cavity. A dilator assembly has a proximal end coupled to the handle and a distal end. A blade assembly is at least partially disposed within the dilator assembly and has a proximal end, a distal end, and a blade hub coupled to the proximal end and disposed in the cavity of the handle. The dilator assembly is movable axially between a retracted position, in which a distal end of the blade assembly extends from the distal end of the dilator assembly, and an extended position, in which the distal end of the blade assembly is covered by the distal end of the dilator assembly. The blade hub includes a body defining a bore aligned with the longitudinal axis and a tab extending away from the longitudinal axis.

Abstract: A loader and method for loading a transcatheter heart valve into a delivery sheath or catheter is described that is also configured to facilitate retrieval of the heart valve back through the delivery sheath while protecting the delivery sheath from damage. Another loader provides for easier crimping and loading of a THV into a delivery sheath or catheter from a storage jar or container. A method for crimping a THV facilitates easier end user preparation of the valve for implantation and reduces the likelihood of tissue deformation in the valve during storage. These devices and methods for deploying THVs simplify the valve replacement procedure.