Some embodiments are directed to methods for serially expanding an artificial heart valve within a pediatric patient. For example, the artificial heart valve can be implanted into the pediatric patient during a first procedure, and then expanded during a second procedure to accommodate for the pediatric patient’s growth. Some embodiments include introducing an expander into the implanted valve when the frame is expanded to a first working diameter, and then actuating the expander to expand the frame to a second working diameter greater than the first working diameter, to accommodate for the pediatric patient’s growth.

Various embodiments of methods and devices for coating stents are described herein.

Various embodiments of methods and devices for coating stents are described herein.

Methods and devices for increasing flow in the left atrial appendage (LAA) include a conduit directing blood flow from a pulmonary artery into the LAA and/or a conduit drawing blood from the LAA by a Bernoulli effect. In one embodiment, a method comprises implanting a conduit in a pulmonary vein, expanding an inlet portion such that the conduit becomes anchored within the vein and directs blood through an outlet portion of the conduit into or toward the left atrial appendage.

Methods and devices for increasing flow in the left atrial appendage (LAA) include a conduit directing blood flow from a pulmonary artery into the LAA and/or a conduit drawing blood from the LAA by a Bernoulli effect. In one embodiment, a method comprises implanting a conduit in a pulmonary vein, expanding an inlet portion such that the conduit becomes anchored within the vein and directs blood through an outlet portion of the conduit into or toward the left atrial appendage.

This application relates to methods, systems, and apparatus for replacing native heart valves with prosthetic heart valves and treating valvular insufficiency. In a representative embodiment, a support frame configured to be implanted in a heart valve comprises a main body formed by formed by a plurality of inner members forming an inner clover and a plurality of outer members forming an outer clover. The support frame can include gaps located between inner members of the plurality of inner members and outer members of the plurality of outer members. The inner clover can be radially inside the outer clover, and the outer clover can have larger dimensions than the inner clover. The support frames herein can be radially expandable and collapsible.

Stents generally can include a tubular structure having circumferentially positioned undulating wires that extend over a majority of a length of the stent such that the undulations oscillate circumferentially to define a circumference of the stent. The undulations can wrap over and under adjacent undulations to form an interwoven structure. Additionally, or alternatively, adjacent wires can be joined. Wires forming the stent can be cut from elastic tubing such that each wire has a three-dimensional shape.

Stents generally can include a tubular structure having circumferentially positioned undulating wires that extend over a majority of a length of the stent such that the undulations oscillate circumferentially to define a circumference of the stent. The undulations can wrap over and under adjacent undulations to form an interwoven structure. Additionally, or alternatively, adjacent wires can be joined. Wires forming the stent can be cut from elastic tubing such that each wire has a three-dimensional shape.

An implantable flow adjuster (20) includes proximal and distal support rings (22, 24) which support a flow adjuster panel (26). The flow adjuster panel (26) divides the lumen through the device (20) into two sections, one of reducing cross sectional area and the other of increasing of increasing cross sectional area. The two sections (40, 42) cause, respectively, an increase in blood pressure and blood flow and a decrease in blood pressure and blood flow. These result is a pressure differential beyond the distal end of the device (20). This pressure differential can be used to divert blood flow away from the neck (14) into an aneurysm (12), thus to reduce pressure and wall sheer stress within the aneurysm in order to assist in the repair of the vessel.

Thin-film mesh for medical devices, including stent and scaffold devices, and related methods are provided. Micropatterned thin-film mesh, such as thin-film Nitinol (TFN) mesh, may be fabricated via sputter deposition on a micropatterned wafer. The thin-film mesh may include slits to be expanded into pores, and the expanded thin-film mesh used as a cover for a stent device. The stent device may include two stent modules that may be implanted at a bifurcated aneurysm such that one module passes through a medial surface of the other module. The thin-film mesh may include pores with complex, fractal, or fractal-like shapes. The thin-film mesh may be used as a scaffold for a scaffold device. The thin-film scaffold may be placed in a solution including structural protein such as fibrin, seeded with cells, and placed in the body to replace or repair tissue.