Heart valve holder and method for resisting suture looping
First Claim
1. A holder for a flexible leaflet prosthetic heart valve attachable to a surgical delivery handle, the heart valve having an inflow end and an outflow end and a flow axis therebetween, the valve including an annular sewing ring at the inflow end and a plurality of generally axially-extending commissure posts circumferentially-spaced around the outflow end that support occluding flexible leaflets of the valve, the holder comprising:
- a rigid valve abutment portion that contacts the annular sewing ring at the inflow end of the valve, a shaft member that is axially movable relative to the rigid valve abutment portion between a first position wherein a distal tip of the shaft member is located to the inflow side of the leaflets, and a second position wherein the distal tip is located to the outflow side of the leaflets; and
a plurality of lengths of flexible material extending in a taut fashion across the outflow end of the valve to prevent suture looping, each length of flexible material having first segments extending radially inward from the commissure posts to the shaft member in its second position.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An improved holder and method for implanting a tissue-type prosthetic mitral heart valve that prevents suture looping and may also constrict the commissure posts of the valve. An upstanding or shaft member axially positioned on the holder causes the lengths of attachment sutures to extend axially beyond the commissure post tips to create a tent and prevent looping of any of an array of pre-implanted sutures around the tips during deployment of the valve. The shaft member may be axially movable such that it can be initially retracted and then actuated just prior to valve deployment. The shaft member may have notches on its distal tip for capturing the attachment sutures, which are crossed over along the valve axis to ensure engagement by the notches. The attachment sutures may be strands or filaments, or may be wider bands of flexible biocompatible material. If bands are used, they desirably cover the commissure post tips to further help prevent suture looping thereover. The flexible lengths of material extend directly between commissures of the valve, or may extending radially inward from each commissure to a central upstanding member.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A holder for a flexible leaflet prosthetic heart valve attachable to a surgical delivery handle, the heart valve having an inflow end and an outflow end and a flow axis therebetween, the valve including an annular sewing ring at the inflow end and a plurality of generally axially-extending commissure posts circumferentially-spaced around the outflow end that support occluding flexible leaflets of the valve, the holder comprising:
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a rigid valve abutment portion that contacts the annular sewing ring at the inflow end of the valve, a shaft member that is axially movable relative to the rigid valve abutment portion between a first position wherein a distal tip of the shaft member is located to the inflow side of the leaflets, and a second position wherein the distal tip is located to the outflow side of the leaflets; and
a plurality of lengths of flexible material extending in a taut fashion across the outflow end of the valve to prevent suture looping, each length of flexible material having first segments extending radially inward from the commissure posts to the shaft member in its second position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A holder for a tri-leaflet flexible leaflet prosthetic heart valve attachable to a surgical delivery handle, the heart valve having an inflow end and an outflow end and a flow axis therebetween, the valve including an annular sewing ring at the inflow end and three generally axially-extending commissure posts circumferentially-spaced around the outflow end that support occluding flexible leaflets of the valve, the holder comprising:
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a shaft member that is axially movable relative to the valve along its flow axis between a first position and a second position, the shaft member having a distal tip; and
three lengths of flexible material extending in a taut fashion across the outflow end of the valve to prevent suture looping, each length of flexible material has a first segment that extends radially inward and mutually crosses over the other two first segments so that each remains along the flow axis of the valve, wherein the distal tip of the shaft member contacts the crossed-over first segments in its second position and displaces them to be angled in the outflow direction. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A holder for a tissue-type prosthetic heart valve attachable to a surgical delivery handle, the heart valve having an inflow end and an outflow end and a flow axis therebetween, the valve including an annular sewing ring at the inflow end and a plurality of generally axially-extending commissure posts circumferentially-spaced around the outflow end that support occluding tissue leaflets of the valve, the holder comprising:
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a shaft member passing along the axis from the inflow side to the outflow side of the leaflets; and
a plurality of lengths of flexible material extending in a taut fashion across the outflow end of the valve to prevent suture looping, each length of flexible material having first segments extending radially inward from the commissure posts to the shaft member. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method for delivering a flexible leaflet prosthetic heart valve, comprising:
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providing a flexible leaflet prosthetic heart valve and holder combination, the heart valve having an inflow end and an outflow end and a flow axis therebetween, the valve including an annular sewing ring at the inflow end and generally axially-extending commissure posts circumferentially-spaced around the outflow end that support occluding flexible leaflets of the valve, the holder being releasably attached to the valve sewing ring and having a shaft member that is axially movable relative to the valve along its flow axis between a first position and a second position, shaft member having a distal tip;
attaching a surgical delivery handle to the holder; and
using the handle, axially displacing the shaft member from the first position to the second position so that the shaft member distal end passes from the inflow to the outflow side of the flexible leaflets of the valve and pulls the commissure posts radially inward. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification