US Patent Issued to Medtronic on Nov. 4 for "Transseptal systems and methods" (Minnesota Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,458,331, issued on Nov. 4, was assigned to Medtronic Inc. (Minneapolis).

"Transseptal systems and methods" was invented by Stephen A. Howard (Forest Lake, Minn.) and Kevin A. Knutsen (Ramsey, Minn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A transseptal system includes a needle, a guidewire, a handle, and a dilator. The handle defines a needle passage to slidably receive the needle, and a guidewire passage to slidably receive the guidewire. The dilator defines a lumen having a distal region and a proximal region. The dilator is coupled to the handle such that the lumen is open to the needle passage and the guidewire passage. The proximal region of t...