Heart valve prosthesis and sutureless implantation of a heart valve prosthesis
First Claim
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1. A heart valve prosthesis comprising:
- a generally cylindrical support extending between opposed ends thereof, a plurality of support features extend generally axially between the opposed ends of the support and are interconnected so as to bias the support radially outwardly; and
a valve mounted within the support to define a supported valve, the supported valve being deformable between a first condition a second condition, the supported valve having a cross-sectional dimension in the second condition that is less than a cross-sectional dimension of the supported valve when in first condition, whereby implantation of the supported valve is facilitated when in the second condition.
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Abstract
A heart valve prosthesis and method of implanting the prosthesis are disclosed. A valve is mounted within a support apparatus that is deformable between a first condition and a second condition. The prosthesis has a cross-sectional dimension in the second condition that is less than a cross-sectional dimension of the supported valve when in first condition. The prosthesis can be implanted into a patient'"'"'s heart, such as during a direct vision procedure through a tubular implantation apparatus that maintains the prosthesis in its second condition until discharged from the tubular apparatus.
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Citations
47 Claims
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1. A heart valve prosthesis comprising:
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a generally cylindrical support extending between opposed ends thereof, a plurality of support features extend generally axially between the opposed ends of the support and are interconnected so as to bias the support radially outwardly; and
a valve mounted within the support to define a supported valve, the supported valve being deformable between a first condition a second condition, the supported valve having a cross-sectional dimension in the second condition that is less than a cross-sectional dimension of the supported valve when in first condition, whereby implantation of the supported valve is facilitated when in the second condition. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An implantation system, comprising:
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an elongated cylindrical member having spaced apart ends, at least one of the ends providing an opening;
a heart valve prosthesis including a generally cylindrical support having axially spaced apart ends, a valve mounted within the support at a fixed axial position between the spaced apart ends of the support, the prosthesis being deformable to a first condition in which the prosthesis has a reduced cross-sectional dimension, the support being biased to expand the prosthesis radially outwardly from the first condition to a second condition in which the prosthesis has a cross-sectional dimension that greater than reduced cross-sectional dimension, the prosthesis being mounted within the cylindrical member in the first condition; and
a plunger operative traverse at least part of the cylindrical member and urge the prosthesis from the cylindrical member through the opening. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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29. A method for implanting a heart valve prosthesis into a patient'"'"'s heart, the method comprising:
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inserting the heart valve prosthesis into a generally cylindrical enclosure of an implanter, such that the prosthesis has a reduced cross-sectional dimension relative to a fully expanded cross-sectional dimension of the prosthesis;
opening a patient'"'"'s chest;
creating an opening in a blood vessel that provides a substantially direct path to the patient'"'"'s heart;
passing a length of the cylindrical enclosure through the opening to position an end of the implanter at a desired position in the patient;
discharging the heart valve prosthesis from the cylindrical enclosure of the implanter; and
expanding the heart valve prosthesis at the desired position from the reduced cross-sectional dimension toward the expanded cross-sectional dimension, such that an exterior portion of the heart valve prosthesis engages adjacent tissue to mitigate axial movement of the prosthesis relative to the adjacent tissue.
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40. A method for implanting a heart valve prosthesis into a patient'"'"'s heart, the method comprising:
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inserting the heart valve prosthesis into a generally cylindrical and elongated enclosure, such that the prosthesis has a reduced cross-sectional dimension corresponding to a dimension of the cylindrical enclosure, the prosthesis being biased to self-expand from the reduced cross-sectional dimension to an expanded cross-sectional dimension, which is greater than the reduced cross-sectional dimension;
creating an opening in a blood vessel that provides a generally linear path to the patient'"'"'s heart;
passing an open end of the cylindrical enclosure through the opening;
positioning the open end of the cylindrical enclosure at a desired position in the patient'"'"'s heart;
discharging the heart valve prosthesis from the cylindrical enclosure, whereupon the heart valve prosthesis expands from the reduced cross-sectional dimension to an expanded cross-sectional dimension, such that an exterior portion of the heart valve prosthesis engages adjacent tissue to mitigate axial movement of the prosthesis relative to the adjacent tissue. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47)
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46. A method for implanting a heart valve prosthesis, comprising:
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creating an opening in a blood vessel that provides a generally linear path to a patient'"'"'s heart;
passing a length of a generally cylindrical barrel through the opening to position an end of a implanter at a desired position in the patient'"'"'s heart, an expandable heart valve prosthesis being located within the barrel; and
discharging the heart valve prosthesis from the barrel to a desired position in the patient'"'"'s heart so that the discharged valve expands to an expanded cross sectional dimension that contacts adjacent tissue in the patient'"'"'s heart to mitigate movement of the heart valve prosthesis relative to the patient'"'"'s heart.
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Specification