Low Profile Expandable Heart Valve
AssigneeSt. Jude Medical, Cardiology Division, Inc.
InventorBrandon Moore
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A prosthetic heart valve includes a radially collapsible and expandable stent, a cuff and leaflets sutured thereto. The heart valve extends axially between an inflow end and an outflow end and the stent includes a layout of struts and nodes having a hybrid combination of vertical struts and oblique struts in the form of diamond-shaped and half diamond-shaped cells. The layout of the structure is configured to preserve a low cell density of material used in the stent to reduce the stent profile while in a collapsed state and to improve the deployment accuracy of the stent into the native valve annulus.
Claims20
A prosthetic heart valve, comprising:
- a collapsible and expandable stent extending in an axial direction from a first inflow end to a second outflow end, the collapsible and expandable stent having a plurality of vertical struts that are parallel to the axial direction in an expanded condition of the stent, and a plurality of oblique struts that are oblique to the axial direction in the expanded condition of the stent;
- a cuff coupled to the stent;
- and
- a plurality of prosthetic leaflets disposed within the stent, the plurality of prosthetic leaflets configured to allow blood to flow in an antegrade direction from the first inflow end toward the second outflow end of the stent, and to substantially block blood from flowing in a retrograde direction from the second outflow end of the stent toward the first inflow end of the stent,
- wherein the plurality of oblique struts are coupled to the plurality of vertical struts so that, upon transitioning from the collapsed condition to the expanded condition, the first inflow end of the stent remains substantially static relative to the axial direction while the second outflow end of the stent moves in the axial direction toward the first inflow end.
A method of implanting a prosthetic heart valve into a native valve annulus, the method comprising:
- positioning the prosthetic heart valve in a collapsed condition over an expandable balloon attached to a delivery system such that the prosthetic heart valve surrounds the expandable balloon, wherein the prosthetic heart valve has a first inflow end disposed at a first axial position on the expandable balloon and a second outflow end disposed at a second axial position on the expandable balloon;
- inserting the delivery system through a patient until the prosthetic heart valve is adjacent the native valve annulus;
- aligning the first inflow end of the prosthetic heart valve with a desired axial location in the native valve annulus while the prosthetic heart valve is in the collapsed condition;
- and
- expanding the balloon to transition the prosthetic heart valve into an expanded condition such that the prosthetic heart valve radially expands and axially foreshortens, wherein, during radial expansion, the first inflow end of the prosthetic heart valve axially translates no more than 4 millimeters from the first axial position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.