Diffusion and infusion resistant implantable devices and methods for reducing pulsatile pressure are provided. The implantable device includes a balloon implantable within a blood vessel of a patient, e.g., the pulmonary artery. The balloon is injected with a fluid mixture comprising a constituent fluid(s) and a diffusion-resistant gas to provide optimal balloon volume and limit fluid diffusion throughout multiple cardiac cycles. The fluid mixture may be pressurized such that the balloon is transitionable between an expanded state and a collapsed state responsive to pressure fluctuations in the blood vessel.

The present invention relates to a filtering device for removing particles from a bodily fluid of a patient, the filtering device being implantable in the patient's body. The device has a tube forming a main fluid passageway for bodily fluid, through which the bodily fluid of the patient passes when the tube is implanted in the patient, a filter connected to the tube and a filter cleaning device for cleaning the filter by moving particles collected by the filter out of the fluid passageway, wherein the filter cleaning device is adapted to replace the first filter in the fluid passageway with a second filter, thereby moving the particles collected by the first filter out of the fluid passageway.

A catheter pump assembly is provided. The catheter pump assembly includes a proximal portion, a distal portion, a catheter body having a lumen extending along a longitudinal axis between the proximal and distal portions, an impeller disposed at the distal portion, and a stator disposed at a downstream location of the impeller to straighten flow downstream from the impeller. The stator is collapsible from a deployed configuration to a collapsed configuration.

A cutting edge of a punch includes side segments and a central segment disposed between the side segments. When the punch head slides into a hollow blade, the central segment of the cutting edge meets the punch head before the side segments meet the punch head. The central segment starts cutting first, which can help avoid a dog-bone shaped hole when the punch is used on a blood vessel, such as the aorta.

The present invention relates to a transcatheter method for providing fluid communication between two anatomical compartments. The present invention also relates to a transcatheter system comprising an intracorporeal connector for fluid communication between two anatomical compartments through at least one anatomical wall, wherein said connector is adapted to receive a flow regulating device, a connector, a flow regulating device and an insertion device.

Methods and devices for tying management of an implantable medical device to the activities of a primary care physician are described, including access control, simplified parameter optimization, support for tuning a device in response to the effects of other treatments in parallel, and support for helping a primary physician and a patient work together to tune device configuration to the activity and performance needs of the patient. In some embodiments, a medical device is self-configuring in a device parameter domain, based on inputs provided in a patient performance domain. The self-configuring of the medical device is based, for example, on an automatically applied transformation of inputs derived from patient performance domain observations into changes in the configuration of the medical device which affect technical parameters of its operation.

A positive displacement pump that triggers with the beating of a mammalian heart, through the monitoring of an ECG signal is disclosed. A programmable delay from the detection of the forthcoming contraction of the heart enables the pump to syncopate the ejection of the fluid with the events occurring in the cardiovascular system. This delayed ejection could be used to overlay the ejected fluid from the pump with a pressure wave in the artery of systemic circulation through a catheter connection between the pump and a physiological model (e.g., cow, dog, human). The outcome of this use could be to raise the pulse pressure in the system to take advantage of physiological pathways that respond to this transient change in blood pressure. The novelty of this system stems from the adaptable control architecture designed to augment the pulsatile characteristics of the cardiovascular system. This inventive concept could be expanded to encompass the augmentation (dampen or enhance) of pulsatile characteristics in any oscillating flow system.

An implantable component is described which is connectable to a manipulating device in a self-retaining manner by a coupling device, which provides a first coupling element and a second coupling element. The implantable component can thus be really positioned by the manipulating device which can, for example, already be connected to the implantable component before a therapeutic procedure and can be separated therefrom again after the surgical procedure. This is in particular advantageous with minimally invasive procedures.

A catheter pump is provided that includes a rotatable impeller and an elongate cannula. The elongate cannula has a mesh that has a plurality of circumferential members disposed about the impeller. The elongate cannula has a plurality of axial connector extending between a proximal side of a distal circumferential member and a distal side of a proximal circumferential member. The circumferential members are radially self-expandable. The cannula is configured to minimize fracture within at least in the distal zone of the mesh as the elongated cannula moves into a sheathing device.

The present invention relates to a method of implanting a blood clot removal device in a patient's body, by cutting the skin of the patient's body, dissecting an area of the patient's vascular system, placing the blot clot removal device at the dissected area, and connecting a blood flow passageway of the blood clot removal device to the patient's vascular system to allow circulation of the patient's blood through the blood flow passageway.