Harpoon Medical

Harpoon Medical is a medical device company in the development stage, commercializing minimally invasive image-guided surgical tools for mitral valve repair in the heart. The technology was developed in the cardiac surgery department at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Using the Harpoon device, surgeons can access and repair the beating heart’s mitral valve through a small incision between the ribs without requiring cardiac arrest or cardiopulmonary bypass. The tool enters via the apex of the heart into the left ventricle and inserts "bulky knots" of new sutures into the leaflets to eliminate mitral regurgitation. When brought to market, the Harpoon device is expected to transform traditional open-heart mitral valve surgery from a complex 3-6 hour procedure into a 60-minute operation and reduce recovery time from weeks to days.