PROSTHETIC AORTIC HEART VALVES
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A prosthetic aortic valve includes an annular, annulus inflow portion that is designed to reside in or near the patient'"'"'s native aortic valve annulus, and an annular, aortic outflow portion that is designed to reside in the patient'"'"'s aorta downstream from at least a portion of the valsalva sinus. The annulus inflow portion and the aortic outflow portion are connected to one another by a plurality of connecting struts that are confined to regions near the commissures of the patient'"'"'s native aortic valve. The connecting struts are designed to bulge out into the valsalva sinus to help anchor the prosthetic valve in place. The valve is circumferentially collapsible to a relatively small diameter for less-invasive delivery into the patient. The valve circumferentially expands to a larger operational diameter when deployed at the implant site.
106 Citations
26 Claims
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1. (canceled)
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2. A prosthetic aortic valve, comprising:
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an annular stent frame including (1) an annulus inflow portion configured for disposition, in use, adjacent a patient'"'"'s native aortic valve annulus, (2) an aortic outflow portion configured for disposition, in use, in the patient'"'"'s native aorta downstream from at least a portion of the patient'"'"'s native valsalva sinus, and (3) a plurality of connecting struts that constitute substantially the sole connection between the annulus inflow portion and the aortic outflow portion, the annulus inflow portion defining a plurality of commissure tips that are spaced from one another in the annular direction around the annulus inflow portion, the commissure tips being the features of the annulus inflow portion that are closest to the aortic outflow portion, each of the connecting struts being connected to the annulus inflow portion only at points that are farther from the aortic outflow portion than the commissure tips, and each of the connecting struts being adjacent to an associated one of the commissure tips, at least one of the connecting struts being positioned for disposition, in use, adjacent each side of each of the patient'"'"'s native aortic valve commissure tips, and each of the connecting struts, in use, bulging radially outwardly into the sinus of valsalva between the annulus inflow portion and the aortic outflow portion; and a plurality of valve leaflets supported by the annulus inflow portion, wherein the aortic outflow portion is integrally connected to the annulus inflow portion via the connecting struts and wherein the connecting struts that are adjacent each side of each of the patient'"'"'s native aortic valve commissure tips are spaced apart from one another by a distance that is less than the distance between nearest connecting struts that are adjacent to two different ones of the commissure tips, all of said distances being measured in the annular direction at the free ends of the prosthetic valve commissure tips. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification