Assembly comprising a ring for attachment in a passage surrounded by body tissue as well as an applicator for fitting the ring in the passage
First Claim
1. Heart valve prosthesis comprising:
- a ring member for attachment to a valve annulus; and
a constriction system comprising anchoring pins for penetrating into the valve annulus,wherein the anchoring pins have a straight first position and a second position;
wherein, in the first position, the anchoring pins extend in an axial direction;
wherein the anchoring pins are arranged around the circumference of the ring member and are adapted to move, after the anchoring pins have fully penetrated into the valve annulus from the first position in a radially inward direction with respect to the ring member, to the second position, to press the annulus correspondingly in the radially inward direction;
wherein the ring member comprises a lower flange which is bendable from a straight axial position to a radially outward position with respect to the ring member, and an upper flange having a radial outwardly extending position with respect to the ring member, andwherein, when the lower flange is in the radially outward position, the anchoring pins are arranged between the upper and lower flange.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to an assembly comprising: a ring having anchoring elements for attaching the ring in a passage surrounded by body tissue, in particular blood vessel tissue. An applicator for fitting the ring in the passage; in which the anchoring elements have an anchoring position in which they protrude with respect to the ring, and in which the anchoring elements comprise a memory material, such as a memory metal or memory polymer, and are designed so that they can be bent from an anchoring position counter to a spring force into a fitting position and can be frozen in this fitting position by a temperature treatment in order to bend the anchoring elements back from the fitting position by the effect of this spring force into the anchoring position when a predetermined threshold temperature is exceeded, and in which the applicator is provided distally with a carrier for carrying the ring. The assembly according to the invention is provided with an influencing system for influencing the temperature of the anchoring elements of the ring carried by the carrier in such a way that the anchoring elements bend back from the fitting position to the anchoring position by increasing the temperature of the anchoring elements to above the threshold temperature.
70 Citations
22 Claims
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1. Heart valve prosthesis comprising:
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a ring member for attachment to a valve annulus; and a constriction system comprising anchoring pins for penetrating into the valve annulus, wherein the anchoring pins have a straight first position and a second position; wherein, in the first position, the anchoring pins extend in an axial direction; wherein the anchoring pins are arranged around the circumference of the ring member and are adapted to move, after the anchoring pins have fully penetrated into the valve annulus from the first position in a radially inward direction with respect to the ring member, to the second position, to press the annulus correspondingly in the radially inward direction; wherein the ring member comprises a lower flange which is bendable from a straight axial position to a radially outward position with respect to the ring member, and an upper flange having a radial outwardly extending position with respect to the ring member, and wherein, when the lower flange is in the radially outward position, the anchoring pins are arranged between the upper and lower flange. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. Heart valve prosthesis comprising:
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a ring member for attachment to a valve annulus, and a constriction system having anchoring pins for penetrating into the valve annulus, wherein the anchoring pins are arranged around the circumference of the ring member and adapted to move in a radially inward direction with respect to the ring member, after the anchoring pins have fully penetrated into the valve annulus, from a first position to a second position to press the annulus correspondingly in the radially inward direction; and wherein the ring member comprises a lower flange which is bendable from a straight axial position to a radially outward position with respect to the ring member, and an upper flange having a radial outwardly extending position with respect to the ring member, wherein the upper flange comprises arm segments extending essentially radially with respect to the ring member and carrying at their ends the anchoring pins, wherein the arm segments are arranged to shorten by returning under the influence of a shape memory effect to a shortened condition in which the arm segments have a zig-zag-like shape.
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Specification