ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,268,826, issued on April 8, was assigned to Harmony Medical Ltd. (Dublin).
"Introducer sheath" was invented by Damien Kenny (Dublin), Brian Bailey (Booterstown, Ireland), Kevin Walsh (Dublin) and John Hynes (Howth, Ireland).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An introducer sheath for use in hybrid procedures on the heart includes a shaft having a distal balloon which is inflated inside the heart wall. A proximal collar is slidable along the shaft and locked to anchor the sheath to the wall of the heart. The sheath has markings visible to both the naked eye and under fluoroscopy to aid in judging the depth of insertion."
The patent was filed o...