ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,496,061, issued on Dec. 16, was assigned to NeoChord Inc. (Maple Grove, Minn.).
"Minimally invasive heart valve repair in a beating heart" was invented by Daryl Edmiston (Draper, Utah), Dan Johnson (Minneapolis), Max Bock-Aronson (Minneapolis) and Tyler Nordmann (Maple Grove, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Disclosed herein are minimally invasive systems and methods for performing an edge to edge repair of a heart valve on a beating heart of a patient. One or more sutures are inserted into a plurality of leaflets of the heart valve while the heart is beating through a minimally invasive access. The sutures can be threaded through a ...