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This technology includes a novel method to access the arterial circulation to allow introduction of large devices, such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement, percutaneous left ventricular assist devices, and thoracic aortic endografts. It also can be used in most labeled and off-label applications of Amplatzer nitinol occluder devices to occlude intracardiac holes and to allow non-surgical direct access to the heart. This new disclosure adds additional design features that have been tested in vivo.

This technology includes a pair of subsystems for a novel transcatheter bicuspid valve (frame and leaflets) intended for implantation in the mitral position. It is simple, it overcomes key limitations to transcatheter bicuspid mitral valve implants, and it overcomes key limitations to transcatheter tricuspid mitral valve implants.

This technology includes a family of transcatheter endovenous intramyocardial tether (MIRTH) procedures to impose myocardial constraint on the LV (MIRTH), LV and RV (SCIMITAR), and cardiac resynchronization procedures. Included is a set of advanced cardiac treatment technologies that focus on minimally invasive procedures for heart patients. The main technology is the transcatheter endovenous intramyocardial tether (MIRTH) procedure, which is designed to apply physical constraint to the left ventricle (LV) of the heart.

This technology includes a metallic guidewire that is suitable for MRI catheterization, because it is mechanically long but electrically consists of short conductive segments that cannot resonate during MRI. The invention consists of stiffness-matched non-conductive connectors or connections that are used along with short metallic segments. The embodiment reduced to practice has torquability and flexibility comparable to marketed metallic guidewires, yet is free from MRI heating.

This technology includes a device to close a hole in the wall of a large blood vessel or cardiac chamber from the inside out, delivered over a guidewire and through a catheter or sheath. First, the proximal portion deploys within the vessel or chamber and is advanced over a guidewire to oppose the wall and seal the hole. Second, the distal portion self-assembles outside the vessel or chamber upon withdrawal of the guidewire. Deployment of the distal portion anchors the device securely in place.

This technology includes a catheter design to be used for cardiovascular procedures. This catheter has intrinsic freedom from MRI heating by segmenting and insulating the braiding material, yet that retains most of the mechanical properties of a braided catheter aligning the segment interruptions out-of-phase with each other.

This technology includes a catheter-delivered endograft designed to treat congenital heart disease without surgery. The specific surgical procedure averted is cavopulmonary bypass graft. The key innovations are features to effect distal end-to-side anastomosis and proximal end-to-end anastomosis without surgery. The system operates under X-ray and MRI guidance.

This technology includes a method which enables high-speed, super-resolution microscopy at a very high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), for biological applications within ~200 nm (the evanescent wave decay length) of a coverslip surface. Instant TIRF/SIM may be implemented simply by modifying and adding to the excitation optics that are already present within a conventional instant SIM design. We enforce TIRF excitation by removing all wave vectors that propagate into the objective lens at sub-critical angles.

This technology includes a microscopy technique that combines the strengths of multiview imaging (better resolution isotropy, better depth penetration) with resolution-improving structured illumination microscopy (SIM). The proposed microscope uses a sharp line-focused illumination structure to excite and confocally detect sample fluorescence from 3 complementary views.

This technology includes a method that extends fluorescence polarization imaging so that the dipole moment of a fluorescent dye may be excited regardless of its 3D orientation. By exciting the dipole from multiple directions, we ensure that excitation may occur even if the dipole is unfavorably oriented along the axial (propagation) axis. If the dye can be rigidly attached to the structure of interest, our method also enables the 3D orientation of the structure to be estimated accurately.