ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,310,577, issued on May 27, was assigned to NeoChord Inc. (Maple Grove, Minn.).
"Device for suture attachment for minimally invasive heart valve repair" was invented by Levi Caffes (Denver), Joel Helgerson (Erie, Colo.), Andrew Schifle (Superior, Colo.) and Daryl Edmiston (Draper, Utah).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "In one embodiment, a suture attachment catheter configured to repair a heart valve by inserting a suture in a valve leaflet of a beating heart of a patient includes a handle control, a flexible catheter body, and a suture attachment assembly at a distal end of the catheter body. The suture attachment assembly can include a rai...