Heart valve that includes coating material

A method for repairing a valve;

• said method comprising:
• a. providing a valve that is crimped about a delivery system;
• said valve includes a plurality of components;
• two of said components include a metallic frame and at least one leaflet;
• said metallic frame is directly or indirectly attached to said at least one leaflet;
• said at least one leaflet is configured to at least partially control fluid flow through said metallic frame;
• a portion or all of an outer surface of at least one component of said valve includes a layer of enhancement material;
• said enhancement material is formulated to i) provide nitric oxide after said valve is implanted in the patient, and/or ii) promote generation of nitric oxide;
• said enhancement material is at least partially formulated of oxynitride after said valve is implanted in the patient;
• b. positioning said valve in a treatment area in a patient;
• and,
• c. expanding said metallic frame from a crimped state to an expanded state while said prosthetic heart valve is in said treatment area of said heart.

A valve that that is configured to be implanted in a patient;

• said valve includes an expandable metallic frame and a plurality of leaflets;
• said expandable metallic frame is directly or indirectly attached to said plurality of leaflets;
• said plurality of leaflet is configured to at least partially control fluid flow through said expandable metallic frame when said valve is implanted in a patient;
• said metallic frame is configured to foreshorten 0-5% of a longitudinal length of said metallic frame when said metallic frame is expanded from a crimped state to an expanded state;
• said expandable metallic frame is formed of a) standard stainless steel, b) standard cobalt-chromium alloy, c) standard titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloy, d) standard aluminum alloy, e) standard nickel alloy, f) standard titanium alloy, g) standard tungsten alloy, h) standard molybdenum alloy, i) standard copper alloy, j) standard beryllium-copper alloy, k) standard titanium-nickel alloy, 1) refractory metal alloy, or m) metal alloy that includes at least 5 atomic weight percent (awt. %) rhenium;
• a portion or all of an outer surface of said expandable metallic frame and/or said plurality of leaflets includes a layer of an enhancement material;
• said layer of enhancement material includes no more than 0.1 wt. % nickel and/or no more than 0.1 wt. % cobalt;
• said enhancement material is formulated to i) provide nitric oxide after said valve is implanted in the patient, and/or ii) promote generation of nitric oxide after said valve is implanted in the patient;
• said enhancement material is at least partially formulated of metal oxynitride;
• said metal oxynitride includes titanium oxynitride and/or zirconium oxynitride;
• a thickness of said coating of said enhancement material is less than a thickness of said expandable metallic frame and is less than a thickness of each of said leaflets;
• said coating of said enhancement materials has a thickness of at least 10 nanometers;
• said layer of enhancement coating material is a) a coating of said metal oxynitride or b) a coating of a metallic adhesion layer and a coating of said metal oxynitride on a surface of said metallic adhesion layer, and wherein said metallic adhesion layer includes titanium metal or zirconium metal;
• said layer of enhancement material is directly coated on an outer surface of said expandable metallic frame and/or an outer surface of one or more of said plurality of leaflets.