Heartstent Corporation

Adc Telecommunications, Inc.

Percardia, Inc.

Robert A Eno

Guy P Vanney

Mark B Knudson

David James Emmons

Harold Ashton Roberts

Katherine S Tweden

Robert J Ziebol

Liang-Ju Lu

Calvin G Nelson

Donald C Harrison

Jerry Griffin

A transmyocardial implant establishes a blood flow path through a heart wall between a heart chamber and a lumen of a coronary vessel on the heart wall. The implant includes a hollow conduit having an open first end and an open second end. The conduit is dimensioned so as to extend at least from the vessel through said heart wall and into said chamber. The conduit has a conduit wall defining a blood flow pathway within an interior of said conduit between the first and second ends. The first and second ends are mutually positioned for the first end to reside within the vessel and opposing a wall of the vessel when the conduit is placed within the heart wall with the second end protruding into the chamber. The conduit wall is formed of a material sufficiently rigid to resist deformation and closure of the pathway in response to contraction of the heart wall. A flow restriction is formed in the pathway for reducing a discharge velocity of blood flow discharged from the first end.

Transmyocardial implant with flow reduction

Transmyocardial implant with forward flow bias

A transmyocardial implant includes a hollow conduit having a first portion and a second portion. The first portion is received within the lumen. The first portion has an axial dimension aligned with an axis of the vessel. The second portion is sized to extend from the vessel through the myocardium into the heart chamber. The conduit has open first and second ends on axial ends of respective ones of the first and second portions to define a blood flow pathway within an interior of the conduit between the first and second ends. A collar surrounds an exterior of the artery overlying the first portion at the first open end.

Transmyocardial implant with compliance collar

A bypass conduit having a desired hollow internal geometry for defining a bounded blood flow path from an open first end positioned in a heart chamber and an open second end connected to a lumen of a coronary vessel is made by forming a master having an external surface with an external geometry complementary to the desired internal geometry of the conduit. The external surface of the master is coated with pyrolytic carbon to define a pyrolytic carbon conduit of pyrolytic carbon bonded to the external surface of the master and with the pyrolytic carbon having an internal surface with a conduit geometry complementary to the external geometry of the master. The master is removed from the pyrolytic carbon conduit.

Pyrolytic carbon transmyocardial implant

A transmyocardial implant includes a hollow rigid conduit having a first portion and a second portion. The first portion is sized to be larger than an initial lumen diameter of a coronary vessel. The first portion is smaller than an enlarged lumen diameter. The second portion is sized to extend from the first portion and through a myocardium into a heart chamber. The implant further includes a stent having a first stent diameter and adapted to be enlarged to an enlarged second stent diameter. In the first stent diameter, the stent is sized to be inserted into the initial lumen diameter. In the second diameter, the stent is sized to dilate the lumen to the enlarged lumen diameter. When the stent is at the second stent diameter, the stent has an internal diameter sized to receive the first portion of the conduit.

Transmyocardial implant with coronary stent

An optical switch is disclosed for a system including signals carried over a plurality of optical fibers. The switch comprises a first and second plurality of optical fibers with each of the fibers terminating at a terminal end. A first switch body is provided for holding fibers of the first plurality in a closely packed array with terminal ends disposed circumferentially about a common first axis. A second switch body is provided for holding fibers of the second plurality in a second array. The first and second arrays are selected for at least a portion of terminal ends of the fibers of the first plurality to be optically coupled with terminal ends of at least one of the fibers of the second plurality when the first array is angularly displaced about the first axis in any one of a plurality of angularly displaced positions. The arrays are further selected for at least one of the fibers of the first array to be optically coupled with different fibers of the second array when the first array is disposed in any one of at least two of the angularly displaced positions. An alignment mechanism is provided for aligning the first array with the second array and with the first array moveable to any of the plurality of angularly displaced positions.

Optical switch

An optical switch is disclosed including a first and second array of optical fibers held in axial alignment and relatively rotatable about an axis of rotation to effect optical coupling and decoupling of fibers of the opposing arrays. Terminal ends of fibers of the first array are set at a predetermined non-orthogonal angle relative to the axis of rotation. Terminal ends of fibers of the second array are set at an angle which is complementary to the non-orthogonal angle.

Growing community of inventors

Plymouth, MN, United States of America

Robert A Eno