ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,364,851, issued on July 22, was assigned to Berlin Heart GmbH (Berlin).
"Connecting device" was invented by Michael Matthes (Altlandsberg, Germany), Heiko Gundlach (Berlin), Nedim Arsian (Berlin), Gerhard Lauterbach (Berlin), Daniel Phillips (Berlin) and Kim Peter Winterwerber (Erlangen, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A connecting device is provided for connecting a pipe or tube-shaped element to the heart or a blood vessel of a patient, comprising a suture ring that has an opening, which can be closed by means of a closure element and through which said pipe or tube-shaped element is guided in the axial direction. The closure el...