St. Jude Medical Atg, Inc.

Fujifilm Corporation

Rick Cornelius

William J Swanson

Todd Allen Berg

Jason A Galdonik

Paul Hindrichs

Gregory Alan Boldenow

Luis Bonilla

Yasunori Ohta

Takayuki Nakamura

Shinichi Yamakawa

Charles Alan Brantingham

Tsuyoshi Ashida

An insertion assisting device includes a rotary body formed in a toroidal shape, and a support and drive unit that rotatably supports and rotates the rotary body. The support and drive unit has two supports, a first support and a second support. The first support is formed in a substantially cylindrical shape, and rotatably supports the rotary body. The second support is formed in a substantially triangular tubular shape, is arranged inside the first support, and supports driving gears that transmit a driving force to the rotary body. The second support is shorter than the first support, and is arranged so that front and rear end portions thereof are located inside front and rear end portions of the first support.

Endoscope insertion assisting device

Methods and apparatus for making an anastomotic connection between a first conduit and a second conduit. A connector structure having a first end portion and a second end portion is positioned about a balloon catheter, which when pressurized, expands to a significant extent at the distal end thereof. The balloon enlarges the connector structure when positioned at the distal end portion of the balloon to create the anastomosis, and at the same time reduces the axial length of the connector, thereby compressing the first conduit to the second conduit, creating a hemodynamic seal and a firm attachment of the two conduits. After enlargement, the connector structure remains in place and adds structure to the anastomosis. During introduction, the second end portion of the connector is covered by a nosecone assembly to prevent trauma to the second conduit while the apparatus is being introduced. The nosecone assembly has a flexible structure which may change configuration to expose the second set of members after insertion into the second conduit and to allow removal of the nosecone after deployment.

Medical grafting methods and apparatus

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Wayzata, MN, United States of America

Rick Cornelius