Devices and methods for providing localized pressure to a region of a patient's heart to improve heart functioning, including: (a) a jacket made of a flexible biocompatible material, the jacket having an open top end that is received around the heart and a bottom portion that is received around the apex of the heart; and (b) at least one inflatable bladder disposed on an interior surface of the jacket, the inflatable bladder having an inelastic outer surface positioned adjacent to the jacket and an elastic inner surface such that inflation of the bladder causes the bladder to deform substantially inwardly to exert localized pressure against a region of the heart.

Methods and apparatuses relate to an implantable device for providing contractile assistance to an organ. The device may include an actuator and anchors located on either side of the actuator. The anchors engage with oppositely positioned tissue walls of an organ chamber, and provide contractile assistance to the organ, repeatedly, at appropriate times. For example, the device may be implanted within the right ventricle, anchored to the right ventricular free wall and the ventricular septum. The device may function to bring the opposing walls of the ventricle toward one another, synchronized with the pacing of the heart, resulting in an improved ejection fraction of blood from the chamber. In some embodiments, the actuator includes a bladder that is configured to contract upon receiving an inflow of pressurized fluid therein. When the fluid exits therefrom, the bladder relaxes back to an initial, extended state.

The present invention relates to method for implanting a medical device for controlling a flow of fluid in a lumen formed by a tissue wall of a patient's urethra. The method is performed by: cutting the skin of the patient, inserting a dissecting tool and dissecting an area of at least one portion of the tissue wall of the urethra, placing an adjustable constriction device in the dissected area in operative engagement with the urethra, placing an operation device configured to operate the adjustable constriction device to control the flow of urine in the urethra in the patient's body, placing a sensor configured to sense a temperature of the medical device in the patient's body, and placing a control unit in the patient's body configured to control the operation device based on information from the sensor.

The present invention relates to an implantable device for improving the pump function of the heart of a human patient by applying an external force on a first position of the heart muscle following the heart's contractions. The implantable device comprising a first pump device adapted to assist the pump function of the heart. The pump device comprises a first reservoir, a second reservoir, a fluid connection adapted to fluidly connect said first reservoir with said second reservoir, such that fluid can flow between said first reservoir and said second reservoir.

Percutaneous access devices (PAD) or other implantable medical devices formed with chain mail are provided. The use of chain mail allows for a flexible PAD that promotes the formation of natural biologic seals between the skin and the device to form a barrier to microbial invasion into the body. Percutaneous access devices may be used for cardiac assist systems, peritoneal dialysis catheters, Steinman pin, Kirschner wires, chronic indwelling venous access catheters that require skin penetration, and osseo-integrated percutaneous medical appliances. Unlike conventional chain mail that is only formed in two dimensional sheets, chain mail is formed in elongated linear chains with occasional interlinks, two dimensional sheets, and in other configurations and combinations including three dimensional structures, pendant petals, elongated linear chains, combined fractal structures having a non-integer dimensionality intermediate between 1 and 3, and combinations thereof. Chain mail may be formed of combinations of simpler structures to form higher-order structures.

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.

The devices and method described herein allow for therapeutic damage to increase volume in these hyperdynamic hearts to allow improved physiology and ventricular filling and to reduce diastolic filling pressure by making the ventricle less stiff. For example, improving a diastolic heart function in a heart by creating at least one incision in cardiac muscle forming an interior heart wall of the interior chamber where the at least one incision extends into one or more layers of the interior heart wall without puncturing through the interior heart wall and the incision is sufficient to reduce a stiffness of the interior chamber to increase volume of the chamber and reduce diastolic filling pressure.

The present invention relates to an implantable heart help device for assisting the pump function of the heart by exerting an external force on the heart. The device is provided with a first fixating member adapted to be fixate the device to a part of the human body comprising bone, a heart pump device having a surface adapted to contact and exert an external force on the heart, a second fixating member in contact with the heart pump device. The second fixating member is displaceable in relation to the first fixating member for changing the position of the surface of the heart pump device, to allow the surface of the heart pump device to contact and exert the external force on at least two different positions on the heart.

The present invention relates to an implantable heart help device for assisting the pump function of the heart by exerting an external force on the heart. The device is provided with a first fixating member adapted to be fixate the device to a part of the human body comprising bone, a heart pump device having a surface adapted to contact and exert an external force on the heart, a second fixating member in contact with the heart pump device. The second fixating member is displaceable in relation to the first fixating member for changing the position of the surface of the heart pump device, to allow the surface of the heart pump device to contact and exert the external force on at least two different positions on the heart.

Devices and methods for assisting cardiac function. In an exemplary embodiment of a device for assisting heart function of the present disclosure, the device includes a first plate and an opposing second plate, each plate having an inner surface, a cardiac processor coupled to at least one of the first plate and the second plate, a bladder having an inner chamber and disposed between the inner surfaces, and a first catheter having a proximal end in communication with the inner chamber of the bladder and a distal end having a first pericardial balloon coupled thereto, wherein a gas and/or a liquid within the inner chamber of the bladder can be injected into the first pericardial balloon upon compression of the first plate relative to the second plate, and wherein the gas and/or the liquid can be removed from the first pericardial balloon upon retraction of the first plate relative to the second plate.