Valve holder assembly with suture looping protection

A heart valve and valve holder assembly comprising:

• a prosthetic heart valve comprising a plurality of valve leaflets that control directional flow of blood through a heart, a stent structure having a plurality of flexible commissure posts supporting the valve leaflets, the stent structure having a fabric covering over the plurality of commissure posts and having a sewing ring at an inflow end of the stent structure, each of the plurality of commissure posts having a tip and multiple suture loops attached to the fabric covering at a location adjacent to or on the tip of the commissure post, wherein the multiple suture loops provide at least one passage for a suture to pass through between the fabric covering and the multiple suture loops;
• a valve holder, comprising a valve holder body to hold the prosthetic heart valve, the valve holder body having an upper surface, a bottom surface shaped to abut an inflow side of the prosthetic heart valve, and a central axis;
• and
• three separate deployment sutures connecting the valve holder to the prosthetic heart valve, each deployment suture being attached at one free end to the valve holder, routed through the sewing ring and along an outside of a first commissure post, through the at least one passage of the multiple suture loops on the first commissure post, extended across to a second commissure post and through the at least one passage of the multiple suture loops on the second commissure post, and routed back along an outside of the second commissure post and again through the sewing ring, to a second free end tied off on the valve holder, and wherein
• tension in each deployment suture deflects all three commissure posts radially inward and adjusts the prosthetic heart valve to a delivery position.