Cardiac reinforcement device
AssigneeAcorn Cardiovascular, Inc.
InventorClifton A. Alferness
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure is directed to a cardiac reinforcement device (CRD) and method for the treatment of cardiomyopathy. The CRD provides for reinforcement of the walls of the heart by constraining cardiac expansion, beyond a predetermined limit, during diastolic expansion of the heart. A CRD of the invention can be applied to the epicardium of the heart to locally constrain expansion of the cardiac wall or to circumferentially constrain the cardiac wall during cardiac expansion.
Claims15
A cardiac reinforcement device, said device comprising:
- (a) a cone-shaped biomedical material having an apical end and a based end and which generally conforms to the external geometry of a patient's heart;
- (b) said cone-shaped biomedical material comprising a plurality of open cells, each open cell defined by multiple sides, each open cell sharing at least one of said multiple sides with an adjacent open cell;
- (c) said cone-shaped biomedical material having a predetermined size selected to surround the surface of the heart and constrain cardiac expansion beyond a predetermined limit.
The cardiac reinforcement device according to clam 1 wherein said biomedical material is a polyester mesh.
A cardiac reinforcement device for constraining cardiac size during diastole, said device comprising:
- (a) a substantially non-elastic biomedical material for contacting an epicardial surface of a patient's heart and configured to circumferentially surround said epicardial surface of said patient's heart;
- (b) said configured biomedical material having a base end and an apical end and formed into a jacket to surround the heart with the jacket having an internal volume to receive said heart;
- (c) said non-elastic biomedical material comprising a continuous mesh construction, said continuous mesh construction defining a plurality of open cells;
- and
- (d) said configured biomedical material providing cardiac constraint during diastole without substantially assisting cardiac contraction during systole.
A cardiac reinforcement device for treating a cardiac condition, said dcvice comprising:
- (a) a synthetic biomedical material having interconnected sides with a predetermined maximum spacing between said sides which can be disposed on diametrically opposed surfaces of a heart;
- (b) said synthetic biomedical material comprising a continuous mesh construction, said continuous mesh construction defining a plurality of open cells;
- (c) said biomedical material having a base end and an apical end;
- and
- (d) said biomedical material providing cardiac constraint during diastole without substantially assisting cardiac contraction during systole.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.