Heart valve prosthetic ring assembly and system with flanged suture fastener

Abstract

A heart valve prosthetic ring assembly includes an outer ring, and an inner ring configured and arranged to couple to the outer ring. The outer ring and inner ring having a pair of complementary mating surfaces configured and arranged to grip sutures therebetween when coupled together. Once coupled around sutures, the assembled ring set may be tightened down against the heart valve annulus to test the fit. If there are fit issues, the surgeon can remove the current ring set and replace it with another ring set of a different size/shape to determine a better fit. Once a proper size is determined, the surgeon may utilize the selected paired ring set as the final prosthetic reinforcing ring. The paired ring set may be secured in place with a flanged suture fastener which secure the ring sutures in place relative to the annulus and the ring set.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.