ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,369,970, issued on July 29, was assigned to Boston Scientific Medical Device Ltd. (Galway, Ireland).
"Epicardial access system and methods" was invented by John Paul Urbanski (Toronto), Brock Miller (Toronto) and Rund Abou-Marie (Mississauga, Canada).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method and apparatus are disclosed for a needle for gaining access to the pericardial cavity of a heart. The needle includes an elongate member (e.g. a main shaft) defining a lumen and a side-port in fluid communication with the lumen; a blunt atraumatic tip for delivering energy for puncturing tissue; and a guiding surface (e.g. a ramp) for directing a device...