An elastic percutaneous elastic introducer sheath is disclosed which can locally expand and reduce to accommodate a transcatheter medical device. The elastic introducer sheath includes a non-circumferentially continuous elastic frame, a liner, and a jacket.

The active introducer sheath systems disclosed herein are expanded by activating a translation mechanism at the handle. The sheath has an inner cylindrical structure of comingled fixed and mobile elongate rods bound together by an attachment line. Activating the translation mechanism causes the mobile rods to move axially with respect to the fixed rods, changing the internal tension in the attachment line. Increased tension draws the fixed and mobile rods closer together, decreasing the diameter of the cylindrical structure. Decreased tension in the attachment line enables the fixed and mobile rods to move apart, increasing the diameter of the cylindrical structure. A prosthetic device, such as a prosthetic heart valve, can be routed through the expanded sheath and to the implantation site. During implantation, the sheath can be contracted back to its original outer diameter, and expanded again for retrieval of the delivery apparatus.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of medical devices and establishing fluid communication between body lumens. In particular, the present disclosure relates to devices and methods for establishing a controlled flow or access passage between body lumens.

A device for implanting a heart prosthesis including a central body, a containment portion having one or more sub-components, and a release device for the central body capable of being inserted into a catheter. A device for assisting the connection operation between the central body and the sub-components of the containment portion includes an assembly of catheters, of which there are at least two catheters for each sub-component of the containment portion, the catheters being joined to each other over a portion thereof and having at least one free end for each catheter.

Aspects of an expandable sheath can be used in conjunction with a catheter assembly to introduce a prosthetic device, such as a heart valve, into a patient. Such aspects can minimize trauma to the vessel by allowing for temporary expansion of a portion of the introducer sheath to accommodate the delivery apparatus, followed by a return to the original diameter once the prosthetic device passes through. Some aspects can include a sheath with a variable diameter inner liner wound in a spiral slidable configuration and an outer layer. The disclosed sheath is configured to expand from a predetermined rest diameter d.sub.r to an expanded diameter d.sub.e during application of a radial outward force by passage of a medical device through the sheath.

An expandable introducer sheath with an interlock dilator. The present technology provides an expandable sheath with a step feature inside its distal opening, and a dilator with an interlock that includes a catch surface configured to engage with the step feature and resist further relative movement so that the body of the dilator is prevented from exiting the distal end of the expandable sheath. This interlocking engagement may allow the dilator to be used to extend and maintain tension on the expandable sheath during insertion into a patient, and then to be retracted from the expandable sheath by pulling the dilator in the opposite direction. The present technology also provides a dilator hub with a spring mechanism configured to achieve and maintain a desired tension on the expandable sheath and to prevent overextension of the expandable sheath when the dilator is being inserted into the expandable sheath.

A deployment device for lining a vessel having a housing having a proximal end and a distal end opposite the proximal end, the housing defining a guidewire channel, a tube elongated along a longitudinal axis, the tube having a proximal end and a distal end spaced from the proximal end of the tube along the longitudinal axis, a sheath assembly having a hub removably coupled to the distal end of the housing, and a mesh removably coupled to the tube and positioned along the tube. The tube and the sheath assembly are configured to move along the guidewire and into the vessel through a puncture and release the mesh inside the vessel when at least one of the tube and the mesh is actuated. The device is used as a method of mitigating potential injury or harm to the integrity of the patient’s vessel lining.

An extension cannula for use with a conventional ECMO return cannula is provided. The extension cannula includes a flexible conduit transitionable between a collapsed insertion state and an expanded deployed state when in communication with blood flow from an ECMO machine via the ECMO return cannula. The extension cannula may be positioned through a conventional ECMO return cannula such that the proximal end of the flexible conduit is disposed within and proximal to the end of the ECMO return cannula, while the distal end of the flexible conduit is disposed in a patient's thoracic aorta to deliver oxygenated blood directly to the patient's thoracic aorta via one or more pores at the distal region of the flexible conduit to improve cerebral oxygenation, maintain systemic arterial pulsatility, and reduce the potential for end-organ injury.

A catheter pump includes a cannula and an impeller system. The cannula has an inlet zone with a first maximum outer diameter, an outlet zone with a second maximum outer diameter and a blood flow channel extending between the inlet zone and the outlet zone. The first maximum outer diameter is greater than the second maximum outer diameter, and the impeller system has a rotatable impeller body operable to convey blood from the inlet zone to the outlet zone. The impeller body may be axially spaced from the cannula in a separated position.

A method of delivering a catheter to a location of interest in the vasculature, the method including positioning a self-expanding sheath within a lumen of the catheter; advancing the catheter and the self-expanding sheath in tandem over a guidewire; and distally moving a distal end of the self-expanding sheath out from the lumen of the catheter thereby causing the self-expanding sheath to move from a collapsed state within the catheter to an expanded state outside the catheter, wherein when the self-expanding sheath is in the expanded state both the self-expanding sheath and the catheter are distally advanceable in tandem.