Methods and apparatus are provided for fastening or clamping tissue to tissue or non-tissue layers and for occluding tubular body structures.

Among other things, there is disclosed devices for closing an internal opening, e.g. a hole in a blood vessel, that includes a shape memory function. Particular substances have been found to provide advantages in use, and in particular forms of closure structures.

A collapsible medical device and methods for deploying the same are provided. The medical device includes a tubular metal fabric, which includes a plurality of braided metal strands and a proximal end and a distal end, the tubular metal fabric having a collapsed configuration for delivery and an expanded preset configuration for creating an occlusion of an opening. In the expanded preset configuration, the device has two expanded disk portions and a central portion, a first expanded disk portion and the central portion connected by a first reduced diameter portion, and a second expanded disk portion and the central portion connected by a second reduced diameter portion. Each of the first and second reduced diameter portions is smaller in diameter than both the two expanded disk portions and the central portion, and each of the first and second reduced diameter portions is recessed into the central portion.

Systems, devices, and methods for controlling cooperative surgical instruments with variable surgical site access trajectories are provided. Various aspects of the present disclosure provide for coordinated operation of surgical instruments accessing a common surgical site from different approach and/or separate body cavities to achieve a common surgical purpose. For example, various methods, devices, and systems disclosed herein can enable the coordinated treatment of tissue by disparate minimally invasive surgical systems that approach the tissue from varying anatomical spaces and must operate differently, but in concert with one another, to effect a desired surgical treatment.

The present invention provides an improved vascular occlusion device having improved flexibility and retention of the type fabricated from braided tubular metal fabric having an expanded preset configuration and an elongated collapsed reduced diameter configuration for delivery through a catheter to a treatment site and shaped to create an occlusion of an abnormal opening in a body organ or vessel, the woven metal fabric having a memory property whereby the medical device tends to return to said expanded preset configuration when unconstrained. The device further including at least one disk portion adjacent a body cylindrical portion formed from the fabric and having a transition diameter between the disk and cylindrical portion, significantly smaller than the diameter of the disk and the diameter of the cylindrical portion.

Steering engagement catheter devices, systems, and methods of using the same for accessing a tissue, including internal and external tissues of a heart, are disclosed. In at least one embodiment, a steering engagement catheter is provided, comprising an elongated tube having a proximal end, a distal end, and a first wall positioned circumferentially along a length of the elongated tube, the elongated tube configured such that a delivery catheter is capable of at least partial insertion into the elongated tube, at least one steering wire having a proximal end and a distal end, the distal end of the at least one steering wire coupled to the first wall of the elongated tube at or near the distal end of the elongated tube, and a controller operably coupled to the at least one steering wire at or near the proximal end of the at least one steering wire.

Among other things, there is disclosed devices for closing an internal opening, e.g. a hole in a blood vessel, that includes a shape memory function. Particular substances have been found to provide advantages in use, and in particular forms of closure structures.

An occlusive device includes a covering component configured to modulate passage of blood or thrombus therethrough, and an occlusion frame that includes a plurality of elongate occlusion frame members. The elongate occlusion frame members are arranged to form a generally disc-shaped member. The occlusion frame is at least partially covered by the covering component. The device further includes an anchor frame that includes a plurality of elongate anchor frame members. The device further includes a first hub component from which the elongate frame members extend, and a second hub component from which the elongate frame members extend.

Apparatus and methods for occluding hollow body structures, such as blood vessels, and for attaching tissue layers and/or non-tissue layers together by providing implantable elements on opposite sides of the structure or layers and drawing the implants together to occlude the body structure and/or bring the layers together. The implants are deliverable in a low-profile configuration and self-expand to an enlarged configuration. The implantable elements are delivered by transfixing the body structure, then releasing the implants on opposite sides of the body structure and drawing the implants together to effect an occlusion or attachment. The implants are configured to apply oppositely directed forces to opposite surfaces of the tissue layers at alternate, circumferentially spaced locations and may constrain the tissue in a serpentine pattern or in a direct clamping pattern. The implants grip the tissue in a manner that defines a pressure zone about the transfixion aperture that prevents leakage from the aperture.

The present disclosure provides a bioresorbable foam closure device for trans-nasally closing an opening in a base of a skull. The closure device comprises a phase-separated polymer. The device includes a stem portion having a proximal end and a distal end, and a head portion at the distal end of the stem portion. The closure device is deformed from a free shape to a constricted shape, inserted through a nasal cavity and into the opening, and released to at least partially revert back to the free shape such that the stem portion fills the opening and the head portion abuts cranium and dura to secure the closure device in position and seal the opening.