142 results about "Coronary vessel" patented technology

An implantable stimulation lead is disclosed for placement in the coronary sinus region and its associated coronary vessels overlying the left side of a patient's heart. The lead comprises at least one proximal connector; at least one tissue stimulation electrode; at least one conductor coupled between the at least one proximal connector and the at least one stimulation electrode; and a lead body including a housing of insulating material enclosing the at least one conductor, the lead body having a relatively flexible distal portion of, for example, silicone rubber, having a length corresponding to the coronary sinus region of the heart, and a stiffer proximal portion of, for example, polyurethane. A robust transition joint comprising telescoped sections of the distal and proximal portions of the lead body couples the two portions of the lead body.

Also provided is a versatile lead delivery system including a stylet stop disposed within the distal portion of the lead body. The stylet stop defines an aperture dimensioned to pass a guide wire but not the enlarged distal tip of a stylet. The lead includes a tip electrode having a longitudinally extending bore dimensioned to permit passage of the guide wire through the tip electrode.

Methods and apparatus for direct coronary revascularization wherein a transmyocardial passageway is formed between a chamber of the heart and a coronary blood vessel to permit blood to flow therebetween. In some embodiments, the transmyocardial passageway is formed between a chamber of the heart and a coronary vein. The invention includes unstented transmyocardial passageways, as well as transmyocardial passageways wherein protrusive stent devices extend from the transmyocardial passageway into an adjacent coronary vessel or chamber of the heart. The apparatus of the present invention include protrusive stent devices for stenting of transmyocardial passageways, intraluminal valving devices for valving of transmyocardial passageways, intracardiac valving devices for valving of transmyocardial passageways, endogenous tissue valves for valving of transmyocardial passageways, and ancillary apparatus for use in conjunction therewith.

Guidewire for catheters which can be inserted into cavities, preferably coronary vessels of humans or animals, said guidewire being provided with electromagnetic receive or transmit locate to position its position in conjunction with corresponding external electromagnetic transmit or receive antennas, as well as with signal lines guiding the processing unit controlling the transmit antennas or transmit coils.

A mediator molecule is immobilized on the surface of a metallic or ceramic implant material. An anchor molecule such as a dialdehyde having a functional group that covalently binds the mediator molecule is covalently bound to the surface, and the mediator molecule is coupled to the functional group of the anchor molecule. The implant material may be composed of titanium, titanium alloy, aluminum, stainless steel or hydroxylapatite. Oxide units on the surface of the implant material can be increased preferably by treating with hot chromic-sulphuric acid for 0.5 to 3 hours at a temperature between 100 to 250° C. prior to binding the anchor molecule. Also, prior to binding the anchor molecule, the surface of the implant material can be activated by reacting with a silane derivative. Mediator molecules include BMP protein, ubiquitin and antibiotics, and the implant material may be an artificial joint or coronary vessel support such as a stent.

Disclosed are an optical navigation positioning system based on CT (computed tomography) registration results and a navigation method thereby. The system comprises a preoperative CT image guide input module, an image segmentation module, a body surface initial-registration module, a preoperative CT image and intraoperative two-dimensional ultrasound image module and an intraoperative navigation module. By combining virtual reality and intraoperative ultrasound, intraoperative positioning errors caused by factors such as breathing are compensated, and accordingly a target point for coronary artery bypass grafting is accurately positioned and navigated. Cardiac and coronary vessel tree in preoperative cardiac CT image data is manually segmented and reconstructed, an augmented virtual reality environment integrating endoscope and virtual endoscope is built by the aid of optical navigation apparatus and CT-ultrasound-based intraoperative registration error correction, and accordingly the target point of coronary artery bypass grafting is accurately positioned and navigated.

For diagnosis and treatment of cardiac disease, images of the heart muscle and coronary vessels are captured using different medical imaging modalities; e.g., single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET), electron-beam X-ray computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or ultrasound (US). For visualizing the multi-modal image data, the data is presented using a technique of volume rendering, which allows users to visually analyze both functional and anatomical cardiac data simultaneously. The display is also capable of showing additional information related to the heart muscle, such as coronary vessels. Users can interactively control the viewing angle based on the spatial distribution of the quantified cardiac phenomena or atherosclerotic lesions.

A method for segmenting coronary vessels in digitized cardiac images includes providing a digitized cardiac image, providing a seed point in the image, selecting a volume-of-interest about the seed point, performing a local segmentation in the volume-of-interest, including initializing a connected component with the seed point and a threshold intensity value to the intensity of the seed point, adding a point to the connected component if the point is adjacent to the connected component and if the intensity of the point is greater than or equal to the threshold value, lowering the threshold intensity value, and computing an attribute value of the connected component, wherein if a discontinuity in the attribute value is detected, the local segmentation is terminated, wherein a local segmentation mask of a vessel is obtained.

A device for treating a heart may comprise a myocardial section configured to be positioned in a heart wall between a coronary vessel and a chamber of the heart and a vessel section configured to be positioned in the coronary vessel. The vessel section may be connected to the myocardial section and be configured to articulate relative to the myocardial section. The myocardial section and the vessel section may form an integral, single piece structure.

A transmyocardial implant establishes a blood flow path through a myocardium between a heart chamber and a lumen of a coronary vessel residing on an exterior of the heart. The implant includes a coronary portion sized to be received within the vessel. A myocardial portion is sized to pass through the myocardium into the heart chamber. A transition portion connects the coronary and myocardial portions for directing blood flow from the myocardial portion to the coronary portion. The coronary portion and the myocardial portion have an open construction for permitting tissue growth across a wall thickness of the coronary portion and the myocardial portion. The myocardial portion includes an agent for controlling a coagulation cascade and platelet formation.

Spectral variation contributed from the absorbance of unwanted correlated signals, such as blood at variable pathlengths between an in vivo catheter optic probe and a coronary vessel wall is an obstacle in the detection of vulnerable plaque. Preprocessing methods are described to reduce the impact of blood upon the spectral signal, based on the principles of Orthogonal Subspace Projection (OSP) and Generalized Least Square (GLS). The multivariate discrimination models used on the processed spectral information reduce the number of independent factors that include contributions from blood. The disclosed chemometric processing including preprocessing methods provide for in vivo spectral detection of medical analytes within the human body and in particular within the coronary vessel wall. A demonstration of how the preprocessing methods impact a discrimination modeling technique is provided, how the blood filters were developed and optimized, and finally how the OSP and GLS blood filters correct the spectral signal and improve the discrimination results of the models.

This invention is generally related to therapeutic treatment of a coronary vessel wall, and more particularly, to systems and methods for improving uptake of therapeutic agents within the endothelium for enhanced delivery of therapeutic agents to a treatment site. A medical device is provided that is capable of reducing the pressure applied to a vessel wall and delivering a therapeutic agent into the vessel wall. Also, methods are described for using the device to facilitate delivery and uptake of a therapeutic agent into the vessel wall.