Loading apparatus for loading a prosthetic heart valve into a delivery apparatus
AssigneeEdwards Lifesciences Corporation
InventorEran Goldberg
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Abstract
A loading apparatus including an outer body, a guide tube, and an annular loading member is disclosed. As one example, the outer body includes an inner conical bore that narrows in diameter from a distal end to a proximal end portion of the outer body and the guide tube includes a distal portion arranged within the proximal end portion of the outer body and a proximal portion extending outward from the outer body. The annular loading member can include a ring portion and a plurality of arms extending outward, in an axial direction relative to a central longitudinal axis of the loading apparatus, from the ring portion, the ring portion coupled to an inner surface of the distal portion of the guide tube.
Claims17
A loading apparatus, comprising:
- an outer body including an inner conical bore that narrows in diameter from a distal end to a proximal end portion of the outer body;
- a guide tube including a distal portion arranged within the proximal end portion of the outer body and a proximal portion extending outward from the outer body;
- and
- an annular loading member including a ring portion and a plurality of axially extending arms extending from the ring portion, wherein the plurality of arms are arranged around a circumference of the ring portion, the ring portion coupled to an inner surface of the distal portion of the guide tube.
A loading apparatus, comprising:
- an outer body including an inner conical bore and an inner cylindrical bore that are continuous with one another along a length of the outer body, the conical bore narrowing in diameter from a distal end of the outer body to the cylindrical bore and the cylindrical bore extending from a narrowed end of the conical bore to a proximal end of the outer body;
- a guide tube including a distal portion arranged within the cylindrical bore and a proximal portion extending outward from the proximal end of the outer body;
- and
- an annular loading member including a ring portion and a plurality of flexible arms arranged around a circumference of the loading member, the plurality of flexible, axially extending arms extending from the ring portion, wherein the ring portion is coupled to an inner surface of the distal portion of the guide tube, wherein each flexible arm has a distal end arranged at the ring portion and a proximal end arranged away from the ring portion, and wherein the proximal end of each flexible arm is angled radially inward toward a central longitudinal axis of the loading apparatus when the loading member is in a loading, first configuration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.