Medtronic, Inc.

Michael A Colson

James R Keogh

Scott Eric Jahns

Philip H Lee

Declan P Costello

Paul A Pignato

Karen Pilney Montpetit

Barry O'Connell

Christopher P Olig

Douglas H Gubbin

Thomas Daigle

Gary W Guenst

William G O'Neill

Katherine S Jolly

Michael R S Hill

Kenneth B Stokes

Michael R Ujhelyi

David E Euler

John D Badzinski

Dennis G Hepp

Kendra K Gealow

Nancy J Rakow

Barry O'CONNELL

Medical devices for positioning a valve in a subject's body, such as a prosthetic heart valve in a subject's heart, are disclosed. The prosthetic heart valve may include a valve assembly, a frame, and a control arm. The prosthetic heart valve may include a commissural post or multiple commissural posts. The prosthetic heart valve may include a positional marker on a control arm. The prosthetic heart valve may include multiple positional markers on one or more control arms. The positional markers can be shapes, characters, or other symbols. The positional markers may themselves be asymmetric. The positional markers may be placed in an asymmetric location on a control arm. The control arm may be asymmetrically shaped.

Valve positioning device

Delivery systems for delivering medical devices and prosthetic heart valves in a patient's body are disclosed. The delivery system may include a catheter-based delivery system. The delivery system may include a tip, a capsule, an inner sheath, and a projection. The delivery system may include an outer sheath and a handle. The delivery system may be configured to be actuated via an actuator disposed on the handle. The projection may include an arm portion and a feeler portion. The feeler portion may include an indentation. The delivery system may be configured to correctly position a medical device or prosthetic heart valve.

Delivery system with projections

This invention provides a system and method for positioning, manipulating, holding, grasping, immobilizing and/or stabilizing a heart including one or more tissue-engaging devices, one or more suction sources, one or more fluid sources, one or more energy sources, one or more sensors and one or more processors. The system and method may include an indifferent electrode, a drug delivery device and an illumination device. The system's tissue-engaging device may comprise a tissue-engaging head, a support apparatus and a clamping mechanism for attaching the tissue-engaging device to a stable object. The system may be used during various medical procedures including the deployment of an anastomotic device, intermittently stopping and starting of the heart, ablation of cardiac tissues and the placement of cardiac leads.

Method and system for organ positioning and stabilization

A method of performing a medical procedure, such as surgery, is provided. A nerve is stimulated in order to adjust the beating of the heart to a first condition, such as a stopped or slowed condition. The medical procedure is performed on the heart or another organ. The stimulation of the nerve is stopped in order to adjust the beating of the heart to a second condition, such as a beating condition. The heart itself may also be stimulated to a beating condition, such as by pacing. The stimulation of the nerve may be continued in order to allow the medical procedure to be continued. Systems and devices for performing the medical procedure are also provided.

Method and system for endotracheal/esophageal stimulation prior to and during a medical procedure

Method for organ positioning and stabilization

A linear motion, muscle-actuated cardiac assist device novelly uses a powering muscle whose contractions and relaxations are made in a substantially linear fashion, as opposed to the curvilinear muscle motions associated with prior art muscle-actuated cardiac assist devices. As a result, collateral circulation of the powering muscle need not be cut, theoretically leading to prevention of ischemia in the powering muscle. Other benefits include: greater energy efficiency of the powering muscle; greater available choice of powering muscles (i.e., not limited to the latissimus dorsi as the powering muscle); and reduced profile height of the cardiac assist device to reduce protrusion from the implanted area of the body.

Linear motion, muscle-actuated cardiac assist device

Regulators for improved cardiac assist systems of the type including skeletal muscle powered fluid pressure means, a cardiac cup and/or an aortic balloon pump. The regulators convert the positive pressures generated by contracting muscle into both positive and negative pressures useful in the systems.

Cardiac assist apparatus

An improved electrode for establishing electrical contact with a nerve of a patient. This electrical contact may be used to sense neural activity on the nerve or to artificially stimulate it to perform various medical treatments. One embodiment of the electrode has an outer cuff of an insulating material which is sutured around the nerve to be contacted. A drug impregnated layer of material is positioned inside of the outer cuff. This material is a polymeric matrix which permits the drug to leach out at a predetermined rate. The drug is preferably a glucocortico steroid such as dexamethasone sodium phosphate. The actual electrical contact is produced by metallic foil which is positioned on the surface of the drug impregnated layer of material which is located inside of the cuff. A second embodiment employs a half cuff which is held in contact with the nerve tissue by being sutured to muscle tissue. The insulative substrate of the half cuff is a drug impregnated polymeric matrix. The electrode is a metallic disc, preferably round or oval in shape, which is recessed into the insulative substrate. An insulated lead electrically couples the metallic foil or metallic disc to an electronic circuit located remote from the nerve. The leaching out of the drug serves to control inflammation, irritation and swelling, and stabilizes the impedance and threshold of the nerve/electrode interface.

Steroid eluting electrode for peripheral nerve stimulation

Apparatus and technique for monitoring physiological parameters. An acoustic sensor or microphone is placed in close proximity to the chest of a patient having one or two prosthetic heart valves. These heart valves produce clicks characteristic of opening and closing action. The acoustic sensor picks up the sound of these clicks and transfers them as electrical energy to a transmitter unit. The transmitter unit processes the analog signal, converts it to a digital signal and establishes the key timing factors involved. This digital data is stored in a memory buffer within the transmitter. Subsequently, this information is modulated and placed on telephone lines for transmission to a central monitoring site. At the monitoring site a demodulator returns the data to baseband digital signals. A computer at the central monitoring site displays the information in the time domain and also converts the information for display in the frequency domain.

Monitoring system

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Chanhassen, MN, United States of America

Michael A Colson