US Patent Issued to MEDTRONIC VASCULAR on July 22 for "Valve prostheses having an integral centering mechanism and methods of use thereof" (Irish, American Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,364,593, issued on July 22, was assigned to MEDTRONIC VASCULAR INC. (Santa Rosa, Calif.).

"Valve prostheses having an integral centering mechanism and methods of use thereof" was invented by Evelyn Birmingham (Ballybrit, Ireland), Bernard Mulvihill (Ballybrit, Ireland), Joel Racchini (Edina, Minn.) and Jeffrey Sandstrom (Scandia, Minn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A transcatheter valve prosthesis including a tubular stent, a prosthetic valve component disposed within and secured to the stent, and a centering mechanism coupled to and encircling an outer surface of the tubular stent. The centering mechanism includes a self-expanding cent...