ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,350,178, issued on July 8, was assigned to Stryker Corp. (Kalamazoo, Mich.) and Stryker European Operations Ltd. (Carrigtwohill, Ireland).

"Stent braid pattern with enhanced radiopacity" was invented by Jeffrey Lu (Kalamazoo, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An implantable metallic braid is formed out of groups of filaments of a first material, groups of filaments of a second material different from the first material, and groups of filaments of a third material different from the first material and the second material. The filaments are braided together by a braiding machine and are arranged in a starting filament arrangement on the ...