Methods of implanting a cardiac implant with integrated suture fasteners

A method of securing a prosthetic heart valve to a heart valve annulus, comprises:

• providing a pre-assembled prosthetic heart valve system including a prosthetic heart valve defining a flow orifice through which blood will flow when implanted from an inflow side to an outflow side thereof and occluding members that provide one-way flow through the valve, the valve including a pliant sealing ring extending outward therefrom having a plurality of generally axial slits that open radially outward, the system further including a plurality of knotless suture fasteners attached to and distributed around the sealing edge, each fastener having an axial slot sized to receive a suture and facing radially outward so as to align with one of the axial slits;
• pre-installing a plurality of anchoring sutures at the annulus, each anchoring suture being passed through the annulus with at least one free end extending away from the annulus;
• passing each of the free ends of the anchoring sutures radially inward through one of the axial slits in the sealing ring and into the aligned suture fastener slot;
• advancing the valve distally until the sealing ring seats against the annulus;
• and
• deploying the suture fasteners to clamp onto the free ends of the anchoring sutures.