Abstract:
A method and apparatus for treating snoring of a patient includes providing an implant for altering a dynamic response of a soft palate of the patient to airflow past the soft palate. The implant is embedded in the soft palate to alter the dynamic response. The implant has multiple fibers braided along a length of the implant.
Abstract:
This invention is a stent to reduce blood flow to an aneurysm comprising: (a) an inner member, wherein this inner member is expanded from a first configuration to a second configuration within the parent vessel of an aneurysm, wherein the circumference of the second configuration is larger than the circumference of the first configuration; and (b) an outer member, wherein this outer member is less porous than the inner member, wherein this outer member covers or surrounds a first percentage of the surface area of the inner member when the inner structure is in the first configuration, wherein this outer member covers or surrounds a second percentage of the surface area of the inner member when the inner structure is in the second configuration, and wherein the second percentage less than the first percentage.
Abstract:
Apparatus and accompanying method(s) for digitally scaling, particularly reducing, an original image to yield a scaled image particularly suited for display by a document workstation in an image management system as one image in a composite multi-image display. Reduction scaling is achieved by logically combining pixels values in each block of pixels in an original bi-tonal image, preferably through an "OR" operation, in order to generate a corresponding single pixel value in a scaled bi-tonal image. To reduce the original image by a non-integer scale factor, the pixel blocks that form the original image are assigned differing groupsizes that periodically vary on a two-dimensional pattern from block to block throughout the original image. The average value of the periodic variation occurring in each direction throughout a sufficiently large two-dimensional area in the original image substantially equals the fractional portion of the non-integer scale factor. If integer scaling is desired in either the horizontal or vertical direction, then the groupsize remains the same along that direction from block to block throughout the original image. Alternatively, to digitally enlarge (magnify) an original bi-tonal image, each pixel in the original image is replicated to form a corresponding block of pixels in a destination (enlarged) image. In order to two-dimensionally magnify the source image by non-integer scale factors in both the horizontal and vertical directions, the groupsize of successive pixel blocks in the destination image is appropriately varied, also through a corresponding two-dimensional pattern. The groupsize remains fixed along either direction if the original image is to be magnified along that direction by an integer scale factor.
Abstract:
This invention is a stent to reduce blood flow to an aneurysm comprising: (a) an inner member, wherein this inner member is expanded from a first configuration to a second configuration within the parent vessel of an aneurysm, wherein the circumference of the second configuration is larger than the circumference of the first configuration; and (b) an outer member, wherein this outer member is less porous than the inner member, wherein this outer member covers or surrounds a first percentage of the surface area of the inner member when the inner structure is in the first configuration, wherein this outer member covers or surrounds a second percentage of the surface area of the inner member when the inner structure is in the second configuration, and wherein the second percentage less than the first percentage.
Abstract:
An apparatus for applying a signal to a nerve for the treatment of a disorder includes a first electrode and a second electrode. Each of the electrodes is adapted to be secured to a nerve of a patient. A signal generator is electrically connected to each of the first and second electrodes. The signal generator is adapted to create a signal having a first waveform at the first electrode and a second waveform at the second electrode. The waveforms have parameters selected to block propagation of neural action potentials. The waveforms have a repeating pattern of cycles of pulses with a delay period between at least selected ones of said pulses. In one embodiment, the first and second waveforms are out of phase for a cycle of one of the waveforms to occur during a delay period of the other of the waveforms.
Abstract:
A method for revascularizing a coronary vessel with a conduit through the heart wall having a diameter transition in the myocardial leg, wherein blood flow is in the direction of transition from larger to smaller diameter. A method for revascularizing a coronary vessel using an implant with a myocardial leg having a maximum cross-sectional area proximate a first end, and inserting the first end through the myocardium into a heart chamber so that the implant directs blood flow into the coronary vessel. A transmyocardial implant with a myocardial leg including point of minimum diameter and a first end with a larger diameter, and a vessel leg in fluid communication with the myocardial leg.
Abstract:
A method for revascularizing a coronary vessel with a conduit through the heart wall having a diameter transition in the myocardial leg, wherein blood flow is in the direction of transition from larger to smaller diameter. A method for revascularizing a coronary vessel using an implant with a myocardial leg having a maximum cross-sectional area proximate a first end, and inserting the first end through the myocardium into a heart chamber so that the implant directs blood flow into the coronary vessel. A transmyocardial implant with a myocardial leg including point of minimum diameter and a first end with a larger diameter, and a vessel leg in fluid communication with the myocardial leg.