US 12,653,668 B2Granted

Prosthetic heart valves with h-shaped commissure windows and methods for assembly thereof

AssigneeEdwards Lifesciences Corporation

InventorsTamir S. Levi, Itay Avinathan

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Abstract

Assembly methods for installing a valvular structure to an expandable annular frame of a prosthetic heart valve are described. The valvular structure has a multiple leaflets, each with a pair of tabs. Each tab of the leaflet has upper and lower portions. Commissures formed by paired tabs of adjacent leaflets are coupled to corresponding commissure windows to support the valvular structure within the frame. Each commissure window has upper and lower openings separated from each other by a crossbar and may have an H-shape. The upper and lower tab portions extend through the upper and lower openings, respectively, of the corresponding commissure window. One or more wedge members coupled to the tab portions can prevent the leaflet tab from passing back through the commissure window, thereby retaining the valvular structure to the annular frame.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A prosthetic heart valve comprising:

an expandable annular frame having a plurality of commissure windows;
and
a valvular structure comprising a plurality of leaflets, each leaflet having a pair of tabs, one of the tabs being on an opposite side from the other of the tabs with respect to a centerline of the leaflet, each tab having an upper tab portion and a lower tab portion;
wherein the valvular structure has a plurality of commissures formed by paired tabs of adjacent leaflets, each commissure being coupled to a corresponding one of the commissure windows to support the valvular structure within the annular frame;
wherein each commissure window has upper and lower openings separated from each other along an axial direction of the annular frame by a respective crossbar;
wherein the upper and lower tab portions for each tab extend through the upper and lower openings, respectively, to a radially-outer side of the respective commissure window;
and
wherein the annular frame is expandable between a crimped state having a first diameter and an expanded state having a second diameter greater than the first diameter.

5 more elements

A prosthetic heart valve comprising:

an expandable annular frame having a first window strut portion and a second window strut portion extending in an axial direction of the frame and a crossbar extending in a circumferential direction of the frame and connected at opposite ends to the first and second window strut portions, the crossbar and the first and second window strut portions defining a commissure window having an H-shape, the commissure window having a first commissure window portion upstream of the crossbar and a second commissure window portion downstream of the crossbar;
and
a valvular structure disposed within the expandable annular frame, the valvular structure comprising a first leaflet and a second leaflet, the first leaflet having a first tab on a first side edge thereof, the second leaflet having a second tab on a second side edge thereof, the first tab and the second tab extending through at least one of the first and second commissure window portions to form at least a portion of a commissure that couples the first leaflet and the second leaflet to the expandable annular frame.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 18/099,394Filed 20 Jan 2023 · continuation
Priority: 21 Jul 2020
Published: US 2023/0149159 A118 May 2023
Granted: 16 Jun 2026
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

A61F 2/2418
With soft flexible valve members, e.g. tissue valves shaped like natural valves: scaffolds therefor, e.g. support stents
A61F 2/2415
With soft flexible valve members, e.g. tissue valves shaped like natural valves: manufacturing methods
A61F 2002/9586
Means for holding the stent on the balloon, e.g. using protrusions, adhesives or an outer sleeve: the means being inside the balloon
A61F 2220/0075
Connections or couplings between prosthetic parts, e.g. between modular parts; Connecting elements: sutured, ligatured or stitched, retained or…