A radially expandable, tubular stent, includes a first section having a first crush resistance force and a second section have a second crush resistance force, wherein the first crush resistance force is less than the second crush resistance force. The first section is connected to the second section to form a tube, connection of the first and second sections extending in an axial direction of the tube.

Post deployment radial force recovery of biodegradable scaffolds are described where a high molecular weight polymer may be formed into a high molecular weight scaffold by solution casting into a tubular substrate such that the scaffold retains its mechanical properties through processing. The tubular substrate is laser cut and subsequently crimped onto a catheter for deployment into a body lumen. The polymeric scaffold may retain its mechanical properties and result in increased radial strength post-deployment in a saline environment, e.g., within a body lumen. This scaffold enhancement may be attributable at least in part to entanglement of high molecular weight polymer chains as one factor that effects radial force recovery and also to the design or geometry of the scaffold as another factor that effects radial force recovery after deployment.

A medical device may include an implantable device for treating a body tissue structure. The implantable device may include a wire structure which may include a wave pattern. The wire structure may be elastic so as to provide a pressure around the body tissue structure such that the pressure may change with movement of the body tissue structure.

A prosthetic spacer assembly includes a spacer body, a first anchor, and a second anchor. The first anchor and the second anchor are each connected to the spacer body. The first anchor is configured to capture a first native valve leaflet between the first anchor and the spacer body. The second anchor is configured to capture a second native valve leaflet between the second anchor and the spacer body.

A method of implanting a prosthetic heart valve includes advancing a delivery catheter toward a native heart valve, wherein the delivery catheter has a distal capsule containing a prosthetic valve in a compressed state. The prosthetic valve includes a self-expandable interior stent and a self-expandable exterior wire mesh surrounding the interior stent. The exterior wire mesh preferably has a lower radial strength than the interior stent for conforming to a surrounding shape of the native valve. The prosthetic valve is expelled from the distal capsule and allowed to expand within the native valve. Capturing elements extending from a ventricular end of the interior stent trap native leaflets between the capturing elements and an outer surface of the wire mesh.

A method of repairing a defective heart valve involves positioning first and second support rings of an annuloplasty device in a first configuration on opposite sides of native heart valve leaflets and activating a contracted state of the annuloplasty device so that a first pitch distance between the first and second support rings in the first configuration is reduced to a second pitch distance that is shorter than the first pitch distance to move the first and second support rings toward each other to pinch the native heart valve leaflets.

A single piece stent construction having a plurality of commissure posts, each of which extends upwardly from a solid ring along a bend line and generally along a central longitudinal axis of the stent.

A spinal implant is provided including an upper surface, a lower surface, a front surface and a back surface, two side surfaces extending between the upper surface and the lower surface, the two side surfaces extending between the front surface and the back surface and an opening positioned closer to the back surface than the front surface. The opening is provided to contain graft material that spans between a cortical rim of the upper vertebral body and the cortical rim of the lower vertebral body. The method includes packing the opening with graft material, wherein the graft material spans between the decorticated cortical rim of the upper vertebral body and the decorticated cortical rim of the lower vertebral body.

A prosthetic heart valve can include an outer support assembly, an inner valve assembly, which define between them an annular space, and a pocket closure that bounds the annular space to form a pocket in which thrombus can be formed and retained. Alternatively, or additionally, the outer support assembly and the inner valve assembly can be coupled at the ventricle ends of the outer support assembly and the inner valve assembly, with the outer support assembly being relatively more compliant in hoop compression in a central, annulus portion than at the ventricle end, so that the prosthetic valve can seat securely in the annulus while imposing minimal loads on the inner valve assembly that could degrade the performance of the valve leaflets.

A prosthetic heart valve can include an outer frame coupled to an inner frame such that the outer frame can be moved between a first position and a second position in which the outer frame is inverted relative to the inner frame. The inner frame and the outer frame define between them an annular space, and a pocket closure can bound the annular space to form a pocket in which thrombus can form and be retained. The pocket closure can include a stretchable pocket covering that can move from a first position in which the pocket covering has a first length when the outer frame is in the first position relative to the inner frame and a second position in which the pocket covering has a second length greater than the first length when the outer frame is in the second position relative to the inner frame.