Abstract: A system for inducing cardioplegic arrest and performing an endovascular procedure within the heart or blood vessels of a patient. An endoaortic partitioning catheter has an inflatable balloon which occludes the ascending aorta when inflated. Cardioplegic fluid may be infused through a lumen of the endoaortic partitioning catheter to stop the heart while the patient's circulatory system is supported on cardiopulmonary bypass. One or more endovascular devices are introduced through an internal lumen of the endoaortic partitioning catheter to perform a diagnostic or therapeutic endovascular procedure within the heart or blood vessels of the patient. Surgical procedures such as coronary artery bypass surgery or heart valve replacement may be performed in conjunction with the endovascular procedure while the heart is stopped.

Abstract: A method for treating sleep-disordered breathing syndromes, for example, snoring in a mammal. The method involves applying energy, for example, energy from laser light, to a preselected region of soft palate tissue in the mammal in an amount and duration sufficient to induce thermal injury to subepithelial tissue in the preselected region of soft palate tissue while minimizing thermal injury to epithelial tissue in the preselected region of soft palate tissue. Thermal injury of the subepithelial tissue results in stiffening of the preselected region of soft palate tissue thereby ameliorating the symptoms of the sleep-disordered breathing syndrome.

Abstract: A method of treatment of humans suffering from the Coronary Heart Disease Risk Factor (CHDRF) Syndrome which comprises the steps of 1) administering, by a pharmaceutically effective mode, a priming dose of drug composition selected from the group consisting of opiate antagonists, and drugs which substantially equally reduce the amounts of catecholamines bound to catecholamine binding sites for a period of about one to four weeks, and 2) administering a maintenance dose of said selected drug, is disclosed.

Abstract: A percutaneous system for bypassing a restriction in a native vessel of a mammal having an aorta includes providing a graft having a body portion with a first end, a second end and a lumen therebetween. An aperture is formed in the aorta. The graft is inserted into the aorta and the first end of the graft is connected to the aorta about the aperture in the aorta. An aperture is then formed in the native vessel distal of the restriction. The second end of the graft is connected to the native vessel about the aperture therein such that the lumen in the graft communicates with the aorta and the native vessel.

Abstract: A method for treating patients to inhibit restenosis associated with coronary intervention, which comprises administering compounds of the class of aminobenzoic acids, specifically 2-(3,4-dimethoxy-cinnamoyl)-aminobenzoic acid or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt at a dosage which is sufficient to maintain the plasma concentration at about 100.mu. molar for a period of time of less than three months.

Abstract: A phakic intraocular lens (IOL) for the correction of visual disorders such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and presbyopia. The lens is made from a biocompatible, elastomeric material such as silicone. The lens further includes one or more annular surfaces that protrude from the anterior surface of the lens or surrounds the lens such that when placed in the eye, it makes contact with the iris. As the iris dilates and constricts, the contact with the iris places a centering force on the implanted lens. The lens is not in contact with the natural lens of the eye and floats in the posterior chamber without insult or abrasion to surrounding tissue.

Abstract: A cosmetic system and technique are provided for improving the texture and appearance of an individual's skin. The system includes an energy absorption modifier that may be applied to a portion of the individual's epidermis. The energy absorption modifier is designed to displace water within that portion. Energy from an appropriate laser or infrared lamp can then be directed to a treatment area beneath the epidermal layer without detrimental heat buildup in that area of the epidermis.

Abstract: A method of detecting and diagnosing the probable presence of lung cancer in a mammal, including a human, comprising collecting a measured quantity of alveolar breath from the mammal; analyzing the collected breath for the presence of a marker for lung cancer; determining a first mean alveolar gradient for the marker present in the mammal's breath; comparing the first mean alveolar gradient for the marker present in the mammal's breath to a second mean alveolar gradient for the same marker, found in the breath of a mammal free of lung cancer.

Abstract: A method of exposing, ligating and dividing perforating veins endoscopically using balloon dissectors to gain access to the perforating veins, thereby avoiding large incisions required in the Linton procedure and similar open surgical procedures.

Abstract: A method for treating patients in need of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty which comprises administering nonionic contract media to the patient and treating the patient with a fibrinogen receptor antagonist.

Abstract: Techniques using one or more drugs and/or electrical stimulation for treating schizophrenia by means of an implantable signal generator and electrode and an implantable pump and catheter.

Abstract: A method is provided for ligating a segment of a biological vessel having a proximal end and a distal end. According to the method, the distal end of the vessel segment to be ligated is accessed; an inner fluid delivery catheter is attached to the distal end of the vessel segment; fluid is infused into the biological vessel; the vessel segment is advanced within a lumen of an outer catheter, the outer catheter including a cautery-sectioning system; tributaries extending from the vessel segment are cauterized and sectioned with the cautery-sectioning system as the vessel segment is advanced within the outer catheter; and the vessel segment proximal end is ligated.

Abstract: A novel method and apparatus is presented for the performance of refractive surgery. The success of refractive surgery, particularly astigmatic refractive surgery varies with the intuition and skill of the surgeon yielding a consistency of results more typical of art than science. In the described embodiments methods and apparatus that quantify refractive surgery by determining the nature of incisions are based upon traceable and repeatable factors. The described embodiments incorporate hardware and software for use in the data management.

Abstract: A method of laser surgery, comprising the steps of selecting lasers whose output radiation has appropriate extinction lengths in the tissue to be ablated, coagulated, and/or shrunk, and directing radiation from those lasers coaxially and substantially simultaneously at the tissue.

Abstract: A method for treating systemic inflammatory response syndrome in a mammal by administering to the mammal a hemoglobin preparation after the mammal is diagnosed as suffering from systemic inflammatory response syndrome, wherein the systemic inflammatory response syndrome is a condition other than sepsis.

Abstract: A method of preoperatively selecting an intraocular lens to be implanted into an eye to postoperatively render the eye emmetropic or ametropic with a desired postoperative refraction comprises determining the location of the lens haptic plane of the eye, the corneal power of the eye and the axial length of the eye, choosing the desired postoperative refraction and assuming a lens to be implanted, the lens having a known power and geometry, including an offset between the lens haptic plane and an anterior vertex of the lens as if it was in its implanted state. With these parameters and refractive indices of the ocular fluids, a calculation is made to determine whether or not, postoperatively, focus will fall on the retina of the eye. If, from the calculation, it is determined that focus will not fall on the retina of the eye, another lens with a different power and/or geometry is assumed to be implanted and the calculation is repeated until the focus is calculated to fall on the retina of the eye.

Abstract: Optical localization fiber embodiments (200, 260, 270, 290, 310, 330, and 350) suitable for preoperative localization of soft tissue lesions by X-ray mammography, CT MRI, ultrasonography or nuclear medicine are provided. In these embodiments at least one hook is carried by an optical fiber for retention in soft tissue. The tip of the optical fiber is visible through the soft tissue when the origin of the optical fiber is attached to a light source. Embodiments include dual hooks (224, 226) attached through a hole (214) in the tip portion (206), a hook (262) fused to the tip (264), a hook (272) glued to the tip (274), a hook (292) held on by a cap (294), a hook (312) screwed into the tip (320), a hook (340) held in a bore in the tip portion (336) by cement, and a hook (358) in a groove (352). A supplemental optical fiber probe (250) provides a method for locating the fibers inside soft tissue.

Abstract: The present invention relates to methods for determining the time of a myocardial infarction in a patient by measuring the ratio of oxidized to reduced troponin I in a blood sample obtained from the patient. This ratio is measured through the use of two or more distinct components which specifically bind oxidized troponin I, reduced troponin I, and/or both forms of troponin I present in the blood sample. Each distinct component may be an antibody or an antibody fragment. The measured ratio reflects the time elapsed from the time of the myocardial infarction.

Abstract: Smokable products made of tobacco and/or another smokable material, which comprise natural substances having an antioxidative effect and/or naturally identical synthetic products thereof. These natural substances are selected according to the invention from hydroxycinnamic acids and their esters and depsides, plant phenols which can be derived from hydroxycinnamic acids, polymers of hydroxycinnamic alcohols, further natural substances of plant origin which have antimutagenic and aromatizing properties and are combined with vitamins, their precursors and/or derivatives having an antioxidative effect, and further vitamins having an antioxidative effect which are complexed with eukaryotic cell cultures. Processes for the preparation of products of this type are furthermore described. Compared with conventional smokable products, the products have a distinctly decreased risk potential.

Abstract: When fructose-1,6-diphosphate (FDP) is used as an inotropic drug in patients who have undergone surgery involving cardiopulmonary bypass, it can increase the pumping strength of a struggling heart, without increasing the heartbeat rate. As such, FDP can reduce the dosages of (and in some some cases eliminate the need for) other inotropic drugs such as dobutamine, epinephrin, or amrinone lactate, which have undesired and potentially dangerous side effects, mainly involving increasing the heartbeat rate, which imposes substantial additional stresses on hearts that are struggling to regain strength after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery.