US Patent Issued to Edwards Lifesciences on March 17 for "Heart valve deployment aid" (California Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,575,930, issued on March 17, was assigned to Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (Irvine, Calif.).

"Heart valve deployment aid" was invented by Rafael Pintor (Mission Viejo, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Methods of implanting a hybrid prosthetic aortic heart valve having a valve member and a generally tubular plastically-expandable anchoring skirt attached to and projecting in an inflow direction therefrom. The anchoring skirt has an inflow end with an initial tapered shape with a lower (inflow/leading) end defining a smaller orifice. For implant, the heart valve is advanced with the anchoring skirt at the leading end, and ultimately a b...