Apparatus for compressing an expandable medical device
AssigneeCook Medical Technologies LLC
InventorJeffry S. Melsheimer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various systems for compressing and loading an expandable medical device into a sheath are disclosed. One system comprises an array of moveable blades radially disposed about a central axis and forming a radially contractible aperture. The blade array includes at least a first plurality of blades and a second plurality of blades. The first plurality of blades is independently moveable with respect to the second plurality of blades. Additional aspects of the invention include methods of using the various compressor systems to compress and load an expandable medical device into a sheath.
Claims20
A system for compressing a medical device comprising:
- a plurality of moveable blades disposed about a central axis and forming an iris that defines a radially contractible aperture, the blades being configured to receive and compress a medical device within the aperture;
- and
- an operating mechanism for moving the plurality of blades between an expanded configuration and a contracted configuration;
- wherein a subset of the plurality of blades is independently moveable in at least a first axial direction with respect to other of the plurality of blades while the plurality of blades are in a contracted configuration.
A system for compressing and loading a self-expanding medical device into a sheath comprising:
- a plurality of moveable blades disposed about a central axis and forming an iris that defines a radially contractible aperture, the blades being configured to receive and compress a medical device within the aperture;
- an operating mechanism for moving the plurality of blades between a radially expanded configuration and a radially contracted configuration;
- and
- an operating mechanism for moving some of the plurality of blades in a first axial direction with respect to other of the plurality of blades while the plurality of blades are in a radially contracted configuration;
- wherein the compressed medical device is moved in a second, opposite axial direction within the aperture when said some of the plurality of blades are moved in the second axial direction.
A method of operating a compressor for compressing a medical device, the compressor comprising at least a first group of blades radially disposed about a central axis and a second group of blades radially disposed about the central axis, the first group of blades and the second group of blades arranged to be axially coextensive, the method comprising:
- moving the first and second groups of blades between a radially expanded configuration and a radially contracted configuration to compress the medical device;
- and
- selectively moving the first group of blades independently with respect to the second group of blades.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.