Stents for Prosthetic Heart Valves

• US 20090292350A1
• Filed: 01/23/2009
• Published: 11/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Denton, Melissa, Botrous, Maria, Ryan, Timothy R., Eberhardt, Carol E., Tabor, Charles, Shay, Janice L., Majkrzak, Carolyn
• Granted Patent: US 8,628,566 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 623/1.16
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/2418 Scaffolds therefor, e.g. support stents
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2220/0075 sutured, ligatured or stitched, retained or tied with a rope, string, thread, wire or cable

Abstract

A stented valve including a stent structure including a generally tubular body portion having a first end, a second end, an interior area, a longitudinal axis, and a plurality of vertical wires extending generally parallel to the longitudinal axis around a periphery of the body portion, wherein the plurality of vertical wires includes multiple commissure wires and at least one structural wire positioned between adjacent commissure wires, and a plurality of V-shaped wire structures having a first end, a second end, and a peak between the first and second ends, wherein a first end of each V-shaped structure extends from a first vertical wire and a second end of each V-shaped structure extends from a second vertical wire that is adjacent to the first vertical wire, wherein each V-shaped structure is oriented so that its peak is facing in the same direction relative to the first and second ends of the body portion, and a valve structure including a plurality of leaflets attached to the stent structure within the tubular body portion.

Claims

1. A stented valve comprising:

a stent structure comprising a generally tubular body portion having a first end, a second end, an interior area, a longitudinal axis, and a plurality of vertical wires extending generally parallel to the longitudinal axis around a periphery of the body portion, wherein the plurality of vertical wires includes multiple commissure structures and at least one structural wire positioned between adjacent commissure structures, and a plurality of V-shaped wire structures having a first end, a second end, and a peak between the first and second ends, wherein a first end of each V-shaped structure extends from a first vertical wire and a second end of each V-shaped structure extends from a second vertical wire that is adjacent to the first vertical wire, wherein each V-shaped structure is oriented so that its peak is facing in the same direction relative to the first and second ends of the body portion; and

a valve structure comprising a plurality of leaflets attached to the stent structure within the tubular body portion.

2. The stented valve of claim 1, wherein the valve structure includes a plurality of leaflets, wherein each leaflet is attached at a first end to a first commissure structure and is attached at a second end to a second commissure structure.

3. The stented valve of claim 1, further comprising a row of multiple V-shaped structures between each pair of adjacent vertical wires.

4. The stented valve of claim 3, wherein each of the V-shaped structures of each row is axially spaced along the longitudinal axis from an adjacent V-shaped structure.

5. The stented valve of claim 4, wherein a first V-shaped structure of each row is positioned adjacent to a first end of the tubular body and wherein the peak of each of the first V-shaped structures is angled at least slightly outward relative to the tubular body.

6. The stented valve of claim 3, wherein all of the rows of V-shaped structures around the periphery of the tubular body have the same number of V-shaped structures.

7. The stented valve of claim 6, wherein the first end of each V-shaped structure in a first row is positioned in the same vertical location along the vertical wire from which it extends as the second end of each V-shaped structure in an adjacent row.

8. The stented valve of claim 1, wherein a first end of each vertical wire comprises an eyelet.

9. The stented valve of claim 8, wherein at least one of the eyelets is angled at least slightly relative to the longitudinal axis of the tubular body.

10. The stented valve of claim 5, wherein a second V-shaped structure of each row is positioned adjacent to a second end of the tubular body and wherein the peak of each of the second V-shaped structures is angled at least slightly outward relative to the tubular body.

11. The stented valve of claim 1, wherein the plurality of vertical wires comprises three commissure structures spaced from each other around the periphery of the tubular body and two structural wires between each pair of adjacent commissure structures.

12. The stented valve of claim 1, wherein the peak of each V-shaped structure is directed toward an inlet end of the stent structure.

13. The stented valve of claim 1, wherein at least one of the commissure structures comprises two vertical wires spaced circumferentially from each other.

14. The stented valve of claim 13, further comprising a plurality of horizontal members spaced from each other and extending from the two vertical wires of each commissure structure.

15. The stented valve of claim 12, further comprising a sealing skirt at the inlet end of the stent structure, wherein the sealing skirt extends around at least a portion of the circumference of the tubular body.