Percutaneous heart valve delivery systems

A delivery system (400) comprising:

• an implantable heart valve (401);
• a valve delivery catheter (410) comprising a first lumen (415), wherein the valve delivery catheter (410) is reversibly coupled with the implantable heart valve (401) at a distal end (411) of the valve delivery catheter (410), and
• an ultrasound imaging catheter (420) inserted through the center of the first lumen (415) of the valve delivery catheter (410), wherein the ultrasound imaging catheter (420) comprises a guide wire lumen (425) and an ultrasound imaging transducer (430) located at a distal end (421) of the ultrasound imaging catheter (420) and is configured to advance distally beyond the distal end (411) of the valve delivery catheter to a target site;
• wherein the ultrasound imaging catheter (420) is configured to moveably pass:
• (i) over a guide wire passing through the guide wire lumen (425) of the ultrasound imaging catheter (420),
• (ii) through the first lumen (415) of the valve delivery catheter (410), and
• (iii) through the implantable heart valve (401), and
• wherein the ultrasound imaging transducer (430) can be moveably positioned to capture images of a surrounding anatomy, the valve delivery catheter (410) and the implantable heart valve (401) in real time during delivery of the implantable heart valve (401) in a subject,
• wherein the ultrasound imaging transducer (430) remains stationary while the implantable heart valve (401) is pushed forward towards and exits through the distal end (411) of the delivery catheter (410) for deployment.