Inferior vena cava blood-flow implant

Apparatus for implantation in an inferior vena cava (IVC) in a vicinity of junctions between renal veins and the IVC, the apparatus comprising an IVC implant, which comprises a tubular implant body, which is:

• configured to assume a compressed delivery configuration and an expanded deployment configuration, and
• configured such that when implanted in the expanded deployment configuration in the IVC in the vicinity of the renal junctions, (a) has a generally tubular shape, (b) has upstream and downstream ends, and (c) is shaped so as to define:
• two indentations on opposite sides of a central portion of the tubular implant body, which have longitudinally-extended shapes so as to allow blood flow in the two indentations from upstream of the tubular implant body to downstream of the tubular implant body, the indentations being configured to be positioned along areas of the vena cava into which blood flows from the renal veins, and wherein the tubular implant body, when in the expanded deployment configuration, narrows from an upstream-most point of the two indentations toward the upstream end of the tubular implant body, and narrows from a downstream-most point of the two indentations toward the downstream end of the tubular implant body, and
• one or more surfaces that at least partially block blood flow through an interior of the tubular implant body from upstream of the tubular implant body to downstream of the tubular implant body, the one or more surfaces being configured to redirect flow into the indentations, and the indentations being configured to direct the redirected blood to flow longitudinally along the areas of the vena cava into which blood flows from the renal veins, such that velocity of blood flow in the areas of the vena cava into which blood flows from the renal veins is greater than upstream of the tubular implant body, thereby causing a reduction of blood pressure in the renal veins, relative to pressure in the renal veins absent the IVC implant.