W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.

Gore Enterprise Holdings, Inc.

Warren Cutright

Edward H Cully

Edward Emil Shaw

Steven J Masters

Coby C Larsen

Zahid Amin

Michael J Vonesh

William D Montgomery

Craig T Nordhausen

James Todd Walter

Alonzo D Cook

Robert C Krall

Coby Larsen

This disclosure is directed to an aperture occlusion device and a method for occluding an aperture, including a perimembranous ventricular septal defect. The aperture occlusion device includes a wire frame element. The wire frame forms geometric shapes that include an occluder region and a securing region. The occluder region and the securing region are separated by an attachment region including a waist. The occluder region and securing region can include membranous coverings. The device can be attached to a delivery hub. The wires forming the occluder region and securing region can have a shape-memory capability such that they can be collapsed and distorted in a sheath during delivery, but resume and maintain their intended shape after delivery.

Heart occlusion devices

Devices for occluding an aperture in tissue or a vessel include a first flexible wire and a second flexible wire. Each of the first and second wires is formed of a shape memory material. Each of the first and second wires is shaped into first and second geometric forms such that the first geometric form of the first wire and the first geometric form of the second wire form a first plate in a first plane, and the second geometric form of the first wire and the second geometric form of the second wire form a second plate in a second plane that is parallel to and remote from the first plane. The first and second plates are separated by a waist formed from two portions of the first wire and two portions of the second wire. Methods for occluding an aperture in tissue or a vessel using such devices are also provided.

The present invention is directed to a device that permits a permanent aperture to be formed in a wall, or other partition, of an implantable medical device. The present invention maintains the continuity and fluid-retaining properties of the implantable medical device by providing a breachable barrier material fully covering an opening delimited by a deformable framework. The invention is accessed with conventional interventional surgical instruments that disrupt and displace the barrier material. Following disruption of the barrier material, the opening is enlarged with surgical instruments to form a permanent framed aperture in the wall of the implantable medical device. The permanent framed aperture provides fluid communication across the wall of the implantable medical device.

Medical device ameneable to fenestration

A method of rapid visualization of an implantable medical device using technology for viewing inside of a mammalian body. These technologies include ultrasound echocardiography and video imaging such as that used during laparoscopic procedures.

Method of visualizing medical devices during implantation

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Flagstaff, AZ, United States of America

Warren Cutright