Heart valve stent and process for preparing a stented heart valve prosthesis
AssigneeWilliam W. Angell
InventorsWilliam W. Angell, David L. Yoon
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Abstract
An anatomically configured stent for a tanned, expanded natural tissue heart valve, a valve prosthesis including the stent, and a process for preparing the prosthesis are disclosed. The stent comprises a frame having three struts, two of which are biased radially inwardly and the third of which is also biased radially inwardly or generally parallel to the frame axis and a fabric cover covering at least the exterior of the frame, the cover having a bead along its perimeter that provides a site for attachment of the valve to the stent.
Claims17
A stent for a natural tissue heart valve prosthesis comprising:
- a. an annular frame comprising three ventricular struts, two of which are biased radially inwardly and the third of which is biased radially inwardly but to a lesser degree than the other two or is generally parallel to the frame axis and three ventricularly relieved portions respectively interconnecting said struts;
- and
- b. a fabric cover covering at least the exterior surface of the frame.
Process for preparing stented heart valve prostheses for implantation in human patients comprising:
- a. procuring a series of fresh porcine heart valves that are representative of the size variation in human heart valves;
- b. tanning said series of porcine heart valves;
- c. preparing positive molds of the exterior configuration of each valve of the series;
- d. casting stents from each of said molds whereby a series of stents that have interior configurations that are substantially the negative of the configurations of the exteriors of said series of valves are formed;
- e. procuring a fresh porcine heart valve;
- f. tanning the valve of (e);
- g. selecting a stent from said series of stents that most closely accommodates the valve of (f);
- and
- h. affixing the valve of (f) within the selected stent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.