ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,690,937, issued on July 28, was assigned to KATALYST SURGICAL LLC (Chesterfield, Mo.).

"Optical fiber having an expanded light pattern" was invented by Eric Bass (St. Louis) and Anthony Kiel (Troy, N.marianaislands).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An optical fiber (170) for transmitting a light beam by a light source including a proximal portion (172) configured to receive the light beam from the light source (122), the proximal portion having a first numerical aperture, a distal portion (174) configured to emit the light beam to illuminate a surgical field (180), the distal portion having a second numerical aperture, and a central portion...