US 12,213,881 B2
Systems and methods for applying pressure to a bodily organ
William J. Havel, West Lafayette, IN (US); Neal E. Fearnot, West Lafayette, IN (US); Jeremy T. Newkirk, West Lafayette, IN (US); Shaun Davis Gittard, Winston-Salem, NC (US); John C. Sigmon, Jr., Winston-Salem, NC (US); Gregory James Hardy, Asheville, NC (US); Rita Hadley, Otterbein, IN (US); Yun Zhou, Eden Prairie, MN (US); Mitch Turley, West Lafayette, IN (US); and David Reuter, Bellevue, WA (US)
Assigned to Muffin Incorporated, West Lafayette, IN (US)
Filed by Muffin Incorporated, West Lafayette, IN (US)
Filed on Sep. 25, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/032,283.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/906,399, filed on Sep. 26, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0093452 A1, Apr. 1, 2021
Int. Cl. A61F 2/24 (2006.01); A61F 2/48 (2006.01)
CPC A61F 2/2445 (2013.01) [A61F 2/482 (2021.08); A61F 2210/0014 (2013.01); A61F 2210/0019 (2013.01); A61F 2220/0075 (2013.01); A61F 2230/0008 (2013.01); A61F 2230/0095 (2013.01); A61F 2250/0096 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An annuloplasty system for use in open-surgical procedures, comprising:
a tensioning member adapted to be implanted by wrapping around the heart, wherein said tensioning member comprises an elongate member forming a continuous loop configured to be positioned around the heart;
a protective member through which the tensioning member passes, the protective member being of a shape-memory material that resists twisting such that a widened dimension of the protective member contacts with the heart, the protective member comprising a material visible with one or more of the following: fluoroscopy, CT scanning, ultrasound imaging, and/or magnetic resonance imaging, and wherein the protective member comprises a continuous ring structure;
locking means for holding the tensioning member in tension around the heart and for permitting adjustment of tension in the tensioning member.