ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,285,337, issued on April 29, was assigned to EDWARDS LIFESCIENCES Corp. (Irvine, Calif.).

"Spring and coil devices for papillary muscle approximation and ventricle remodeling" was invented by Glen T. Rabito (Lake Forest, Calif.), Robert C. Taft (Orange, Calif.) and Alison S. Curtis (Colden, Colo.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for treating a heart valve involves delivering a catheter into a ventricle of a heart, advancing a coil from the catheter, rotating the coil at least partially around a papillary muscle of the ventricle, embedding a distal end of the coil in tissue of the ventricle, and manipulating a suture coupled to the ...