Edwards Lifesciences Corporation

Hamid Rafi

Uy D Trinh

Robert R Bowes

Emil Karapetian

Thanh Huy Le

Tung Thanh Le

Gregory I Bak-Boychuk

Russell Thomas Joseph

Sonny Tran

Brian C Gray

Maria Lillian Saravia

Alejandro J Froimovich Rosenberg

Andrew Oien

Kevin D Rupp

Jun Liu

Chambory Chhe

Leah Paige Gaffney

Alyssa Joy Gross

Duc Hong Nguyen

Tung T Le

Robert Bowes

Maria L Saravia

Salvatore Manzella

A delivery assembly comprises a delivery apparatus and a prosthetic valve releasably connected to a cord-retaining device of the delivery apparatus by a plurality of cords or tethers. The cords desirably have a multi-stranded construction formed from a plurality of strands of material. The multi-stranded construction can be, for example, a braided construction, a twisted construction, or a whip-stitch construction. The multi-stranded construction can include integral openings along opposing end portions of each cord. Each cord can extend through an aperture in an apex of the frame of the prosthetic valve or around an apex with one end portion of the cord being retained on the cord-retaining device and another end portion of the cord being retained on a slideable release member of the delivery apparatus.

Delivery apparatus for a prosthetic valve

Disclosed embodiments of introducer devices provide hemostatic sealing and allow a delivery catheter to be inserted through the introducer seals without the use of a separate loader device that covers a medical device that is mounted on the catheter. Some disclosed introducers comprise a housing, a distal sheath extending distally from the housing and adapted to be inserted into a patient's vasculature, a distal hemostatic seal mounted within the housing and a proximal hemostatic seal mounted within the housing, and a slidable tube positioned within the housing that is movable longitudinally relative to the distal hemostatic seal between a proximal position and a distal position, wherein in the proximal position a distal end of the tube is positioned proximal to the distal hemostatic seal with the distal hemostatic seal closed, and wherein in the distal position the distal end of the tube extends through the distal hemostatic seal.

Intravascular introducer devices

Pinch devices and access systems that can be used to secure a prosthetic heart valve to a heart valve annulus and to treat valvular insufficiency. A pinch device can be a separate expandable element from the prosthetic heart valve that is first advanced to the annulus and deployed, after which an expandable prosthetic heart valve can be advanced to within the annulus and deployed. The two elements can clamp/pinch the heart valve leaflets to hold the prosthetic heart valve in place. The pinch device can have a flexible, expandable annular frame. A combined delivery system can deliver the pinch device and prosthetic heart valve with just a single access point and aid more accurate coaxial deployment. The pinch device can be mounted near distal end of an access sheath, and a catheter for delivering the prosthetic heart valve can be passed through a lumen of the same access sheath.

Heart valve pinch devices and delivery systems

Growing community of inventors

Irvine, CA, United States of America

Hamid Rafi