A lacrimal duct tube includes: a pair of tubular members that each have at one end an opening communicating with a lumen and have in a wall a hole for guiding a lacrimal duct tube operative instrument to the lumen; and a connection member that connects the other ends of the tubular members. Surfaces of the tubular members include a hydrophilic-coated portion and a non-coated portion without the hydrophilic coating. It is preferred that the lumen in the vicinity of the opening includes an engagement portion for engagement with a tip of the lacrimal duct tube operative instrument, and the non-coated portion is formed without overlapping with the surface of the tubular member at the position of the engagement portion. The lacrimal duct tube can be used favorably for various lacrimal duct obstruction treatments. In the case of using a sheath such as in sheath guided endoscopic probing, the lacrimal duct tube can be easily inserted into the sheath and be firmly fixed to the sheath. In the case of inserting the lacrimal duct tube directly into the lacrimal duct, the lacrimal duct tube can be easily passed through the lacrimal duct and be easily operated in the lacrimal duct.

A surface structure is produced on an outer surface of an implant or a fixture and forms a base structure in a range of implants related to different types and qualities of jaw bone. During production of the surface, parts of a turning tool are placed against the implant or against a blank which is intended to form the implant. The parts and/or the implant are assigned controls which give rise to mutual displacements between the parts and the implant so that the parts follow a substantially spiral trajectory along the outer surface. By means of said controls, a long wave pattern is formed with successive peaks and with through lying between these. In this connection, a through can be arranged adjacent to the outer parts of an existing thread. The controls are chosen so as to produce through depths in the range of 25 to 250 m, preferably 50 to 200 m. The invention also relates to an implant which bas the same character as the implant produced by the method.

A prosthetic glenoid component for replicating the behavior of a patient's natural glenoid includes a rim that replicates the patient's natural glenoid labrum.

Hearing protection devices, e.g., push-to-fit earplugs, having a tip cavity in the sound attenuating body and methods of manufacturing the hearing protection devices are described herein.

An adjustable annuloplasty device (1) comprising a tube (2) having a basically annular shape or adopted to be brought into an annular shape. At least one portion, preferably three portions, of an outer wall (3) or the whole outer wall of the tube (2) is more rigid than opposite portion(s) of an inner wall (4) or the whole inner wall (4). The inner wall is arranged nearer to an inside (5) area defined by the annular shape than the outer wall (3). The inner wall (4) is adapted to be displaced inwardly at least along less rigid portion(s) of the circumference upon actuation by at least one actuation element (10) while the outer wall (4) remains basically constant.

The present invention pertains to implantable or insertable medical devices which comprise a substrate and one or more therapeutic-agent-containing regions contain one or more therapeutic agents. In various aspects of the invention, one or more characteristics of such therapeutic-agent-containing regions are controlled. Further aspects of the invention relate to methods of forming such devices and to methods of using such devices.

A prosthesis can be configured to grasp intralumenal tissue when deployed within a body cavity and prevent axial flow of fluid around an exterior of the prosthesis. The prosthesis can include an expandable frame configured to radially expand and contract for deployment within the body cavity and a valve body. The expandable frame can include a frame body and a supplemental frame. The valve body can include a plurality of leaflets and one or more intermediate components. The one or more intermediate components can couple at least a portion of the leaflets to the expandable frame. The prosthesis can include an annular flap positioned around an exterior of the expandable frame.

Leaflets for a prosthetic heart valve are disclosed. As one example, a leaflet includes a main body with a free, outflow edge and a cusp edge portion, two lower tabs disposed on opposite sides of the main body, where the cusp edge portion terminates at upper ends thereof at the lower tabs, and the lower tabs extend laterally outward from the main body relative to a central longitudinal axis of the leaflet, and two upper tabs disposed on opposite sides of and extending laterally outward from the main body. The leaflet further includes two offsetting portions, each extending between a respective lower tab and upper tab and offsetting the respective upper tab axially and laterally away from the outflow edge of the main body, where each upper tab has opposing inner and outer edges that are parallel to one another and the central longitudinal axis of the leaflet.

An implantable stent may include a braided tubular member formed of braided wires and including radially outward wire segments crossing over and positioned radially outward of radially inward wire segments at a plurality of crossover points. Also, the radially outward wire segments may be coated with a coating and the radially inward wire segments may be uncoated and devoid of the coating.

A Y-shaped support has a head section having a first free end and a second end secured to a leg section, with the leg section having a first leg extending from the second end of the head section and a second leg extending from the second end of the head section. A first connector is provided as a first interlocking stitch, with the first interlocking stitch passed through open leg spaces of the first leg and open head spaces in the head section. A second connector is provided as a second interlocking stitch, with the second interlocking stitch passed through the aligned open leg spaces of the first leg and the second leg to connect the first leg to the second leg. The second end of the head section is located outside a space where the first leg is connected to the second leg.