Heart valve
First Claim
1. A heart valve comprising a biocompatible, metal-reinforced resilient stent including:
- an annulus,a plurality of metal-reinforced angularly spaced struts extending from said annulus, each of said struts including a metal wire embedded within a biocompatible polymeric material,preformed separate, biocompatible, flexible leaflets having outer boundaries secured to said struts, said leaflets adapted for movement to diverge from each other and converge toward each other to a valve-opening and a valve-closing position, respectively,a biocompatible polymeric covering forming a part of said struts and overlapping said outer boundaries of said leaflets which are secured to said struts, anda suture ring connected to and encircling said annulus.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A multi-leaflet (usually trileaflet) heart valve composed of biocompatible polymer which, in all of its embodiments, simultaneously imitates the structure and dynamics of biological heart valves and avoids promotion of calcification. The valve includes a plurality of flexible leaflets dip cast on a mandrel, which leaflets are then bonded with a bonding agent to the interior surfaces of a plurality of struts on a metal-reinforced prosthetic stent. The leaflets open and close in response to the pumping action of the heart and, due to the design of the leaflets, fatigue resistance of the heart valve is high. The leaflets and the polymer components of the prosthetic stent are manufactured of biocompatible polymers exhibiting intrinsic calcification-resistant properties.
291 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A heart valve comprising a biocompatible, metal-reinforced resilient stent including:
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an annulus, a plurality of metal-reinforced angularly spaced struts extending from said annulus, each of said struts including a metal wire embedded within a biocompatible polymeric material, preformed separate, biocompatible, flexible leaflets having outer boundaries secured to said struts, said leaflets adapted for movement to diverge from each other and converge toward each other to a valve-opening and a valve-closing position, respectively, a biocompatible polymeric covering forming a part of said struts and overlapping said outer boundaries of said leaflets which are secured to said struts, and a suture ring connected to and encircling said annulus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A heart valve comprising a biocompatible, metal-reinforced resilient stent, said stent including:
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an annulus, a plurality of metal-reinforced angularly spaced struts extending from said annulus, and preformed separate, biocompatible, flexible leaflets having outer boundaries secured to said struts, said leaflets adapted for movement to diverge from each other to a valve-opening position and to converge toward each other to a valve-closing position, wherein a region of said leaflets which contacts each other in said valve-closing position is sinusoidal in shape, and wherein each of said leaflets has a length from a center of said heart valve to a interior of said stent equal to one third of the circumference of an inside diameter of said interior of said stent, a biocompatible polymeric covering forming part of said struts and overlapping said outer boundaries of said leaflets which are secured to said struts, and a suture ring connected to and encircling said annulus.
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Specification