US Patent Issued to AtriCure on April 21 for "Left atrial appendage manipulation and traction" (California, Ohio Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,605,176, issued on April 21, was assigned to AtriCure Inc. (Mason, Ohio).

"Left atrial appendage manipulation and traction" was invented by Tamer Ibrahim (Danville, Calif.), Dwight P. Morejohn (Davis, Calif.), Matthew Monti (Cincinnati), Michael J. Banchieri (Discovery Bay, Calif.), Ara M. Stephanian (Davis, Calif.) and Kenneth L. Miller (Hamilton, Ohio).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method of positioning an occlusion clip proximate a left atrial appendage may include creating an access port that exposes the left atrial appendage; delivering a suction grasper via the access port, the suction grasper including opposing jaws each having...