Prosthetic heart valve
AssigneeUniversity of Connecticut
InventorsWei Sun, Eric Sirois, Thuy Minh Pham, Kewei Li
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A prosthetic heart valve having a stent, a plurality of leaflets positioned within the stent, and a suspension assembly coupled to the leaflets and the stent. The suspension assembly includes a central support structure that is spaced from the plurality of leaflets in the direction of blood flow. A plurality of elongate suspension members are secured to the central support structure, and at least one elongate suspension member is secured to each leaflet of the valve, thereby providing mechanical reinforcement for the leaflets.
Claims28
A prosthetic heart valve for implantation into a selected channel within the heart of a subject, wherein blood flows through the selected channel in a flow direction, the prosthetic heart valve comprising:
- a stent having an inner surface, the inner surface of the stent defining an interior region of the stent;
- a plurality of leaflets positioned within the interior region of the stent, each leaflet of the plurality of leaflets defining a free edge, an attachment edge, and a pair of spaced commissure regions, the attachment edge of each leaflet being attached to the stent such that each commissure region of each respective leaflet is positioned proximate a commissure region of an adjacent leaflet;
- and
- a suspension assembly comprising:
- a central support structure coupled to the stent such that the central support structure is spaced from the plurality of leaflets in the flow direction;
- and
- a plurality of elongate suspension members secured thereto the central support structure, at least one suspension member of the plurality of suspension members being secured thereto each respective leaflet,
- wherein, following implantation of the prosthetic heart valve within the selected channel, the suspension assembly is configured to mechanically reinforce the plurality of leaflets.
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A prosthetic heart valve for implantation into a selected channel within the heart of a subject, wherein blood flows through the selected channel in a flow direction, the prosthetic heart valve comprising:
- a stent having an inner surface, the inner surface of the stent defining an interior region of the stent;
- a plurality of leaflets positioned within the interior region of the stent, each leaflet of the plurality of leaflets defining a free edge, an attachment edge, and a pair of spaced commissure regions, the attachment edge of each leaflet being attached to the collapsible stent such that each commissure region of each respective leaflet is positioned proximate a commissure region of an adjacent leaflet;
- a central support structure operatively coupled to the stent and the plurality of leaflets such that the central support structure is spaced from the plurality of leaflets in the flow direction, at least a portion of the central support structure being spaced from the inner surface of the stent;
- and
- means coupled to the central support structure for increasing the durability of the plurality of leaflets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.