A heart support system featuring a constraint sized to fit about at least a portion of an adult human heart in a living body, an expandable chamber disposed within the constraint so as to apply pressure against the heart when expanded and a connector system including a pneumatic connection port in hydraulic communication with the expandable chamber. The heart support system can include a supply unit with: a source of pressurized fluid and a pneumatic supply line extending from the pressurized fluid source. The pneumatic supply line is connectable to the pneumatic connection port.

A tubular pulsatile ventricular assist device (PVAD) system for providing forward flow of blood in a pulsatile, peristaltic, and non-hemolytic manner to help reduce the amount of blood clotting associated with current ventricular devices on the market. The system can encircle a portion of a blood vessel, and the system can sequentially apply a pressure through each port in a particular pre-determined patter so as to selectively occlude the lumen, thereby creating a pulsatile, peristaltic movement along a length of system. Said movement causes blood to flow through the portion of the blood vessel.

A tubular pulsatile ventricular assist device (PVAD) system for providing forward flow of blood in a pulsatile, peristaltic, and non-hemolytic manner to help reduce the amount of blood clotting associated with current ventricular devices on the market. The system can encircle a portion of a blood vessel, and the system can sequentially apply a pressure through each port in a particular pre-determined patter so as to selectively occlude the lumen, thereby creating a pulsatile, peristaltic movement along a length of system. Said movement causes blood to flow through the portion of the blood vessel.

A system configured to be at least partially implanted along an aorta includes an inelastic, static member and a pinching member. The pinching member is configured to receive an activation signal at an activation rate and in response to the activation signal, repeatedly compress the aorta at the second location at the activation rate to pump fluid within the aorta in a desired pumping direction. The system is configured to selectively control wave reflections in order to achieve both improved wave dynamics to reduce cardiac load and increased (or at least non-diminished) blood flow to targeted organs within the cardiovascular system.

A system configured to be at least partially implanted along an aorta includes an inelastic, static member and a pinching member. The pinching member is configured to receive an activation signal at an activation rate and in response to the activation signal, repeatedly compress the aorta at the second location at the activation rate to pump fluid within the aorta in a desired pumping direction. The system is configured to selectively control wave reflections in order to achieve both improved wave dynamics to reduce cardiac load and increased (or at least non-diminished) blood flow to targeted organs within the cardiovascular system.

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 invention relates to actuators based on electroactive polymeric materials for use in pumping fluids or in other applications where a contractile actuation is required, in particular, although not necessarily exclusively, for use in vascular pulsation devices such as a variable aortic tension device. Embodiments disclosed include an actuator comprising: an inner tubular structure; an outer tubular structure surrounding the inner tubular structure and comprising a plurality of layers of a dielectric elastomeric material and a tubular elastic support structure, the elastic support structure configured to maintain a pre-stress in the layers of the dielectric elastomeric material, wherein the outer tubular structure is configured to contract in a radial direction around the inner tubular structure upon application of an actuation voltage signal across the dielectric elastomeric material layers.

A surgical method of treating a patient is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: cutting the patient's skin and abdominal wall; dissecting an area of the patient's intestine; and dissecting a portion of the dissected intestinal area such that intestinal mesentery connected thereto is opened in such a way that supply of blood through the mesentery to the dissected intestinal area is maintained as much as possible on both sides of the dissected portion. The method further comprises the steps of dividing the patient's intestine in the dissected portion so as to create an upstream part of the intestine with a first intestinal opening and a downstream part of the intestine with a second intestinal opening with the mesentery still maintaining a tissue connection between the upstream and downstream intestine parts.

A biomimetic actuation device includes a flexible substrate, conformable for disposition about an object, defining an apex and a base, bearing at least one soft actuator configured to change state from a first state to a second state upon introduction of a pressurized fluid to an internal volume of the at least one soft actuator.

The invention relates to a system for ventricular circulatory support, comprising a device (2) for applying a magnetic field to a magnetised body fluid (1), particularly blood, in a region of a vessel (3), particularly a blood vessel. The system also comprises a control device designed to actuate said device (2) for applying a magnetic field such that, in the region of the vessel (3), a magnetically-induced force acts on the magnetised body fluid (1) in the longitudinal direction of said vessel (3).