Apparatus for compressing an expandable medical device
AssigneeCook Medical Technologies LLC
InventorJeffry S. Melsheimer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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 first group of blades radially disposed about a central axis and forming a first radially contractible aperture;
- and
- a second group of blades radially disposed about the central axis and forming a second radially contractible aperture, whereby the first group of blades and second group of blades are arranged so that the first aperture is axially coextensive with the second aperture;
- and
- where the first group of blades is independently moveable with respect to the second group of blades.
A system for compressing a medical device comprising:
- a first group of blades radially disposed about a central axis;
- a second group of blades radially disposed about the central axis;
- and
- an operating mechanism coupled to at least the first group of blades and configured to slide the first group of blades along the central axis in a first direction while the second group of blades remains stationary.
A method of operating a compressor for compressing a medical device, the compressor comprising at least first group of blades radially disposed about a central axis and forming a first radially contractible aperture and a second group of blades radially disposed about the central axis and forming a second radially contractible aperture, whereby the first group of blades and second group of blades are arranged so that the first aperture is axially coextensive with the second aperture, the method comprising the step of selectively moving the first group of blades independently with respect to the second group of blades.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.