Prosthetic cardiac valve
AssigneeAvions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation
InventorsPerrier Philippe, Lapeyre Didier
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A prosthetic cardiac valve with a plurality of flaps supported by a base through a rotational guide and retaining mechanism between an open position and a closed position. The valve is characterized in that: the guide and retaining mechaism define a virtual axis of rotation disposed at a distance from the axis of the valve which is greater than 75% of the radius of the base measured along the axis of symmetry of a flap, each virtual axis, situated outside the corresponding flap, is offcentered with respect to the center of gravity of the flap, and in the open position, the corners of each flap come to bear on the internal wall of the base in zones which are situated at a distance from the corresponding virtual axis of rotation which is greater than 25% of the radius of the base.
Claims21
A prosthetic cardiac valve of the type including:
- a plurality of flaps having a concave internal face and being movable, under the action of cardiac pulsations, between an open position in which they allow the blood to flow in a forward direction and a closed position in which they prevent reversal of the blood flow in a reverse direction, each closure means having two lateral corners, a leading edge and a trailing edge which converge in two corners,
- a base supporting the flaps and having an internal wall definng a central passage for the blood flow, as well as an upper edge and a lower edge,
- suture means by means of which the base is fixed to cardiac and vascular tissues, and
- rotational guide and retaining means for each flap between and in said open and closed positions, respectively, wherein
- the rotational guide and retaining means of each flap define an axis of rotation disposed at a distance from the axis of the valve which is greater than 75% of an internal radius of the base measured perpendicularly to the rotation axis of each flap, while allowing the flow between the external face of a flap and an adjacent internal wall of the base for rinsing of said guide and retaining means,
- the axis of rotation of each said flap being situated entirely outside the flap and being off-centered with respect to the centre of gravity of the flap so that the resultant force of the friction forces acting on the flap has, with respect to said axis during reversal of the blood flow, a sufficient moment for starting closure of said flap, and
- in the open position the corners of each flap bear on the internal wall of the base at zones which are situated at a distance from the axis of rotation of each said flap which is greater than 25% of an internal radius of the base measured perpendicularly to the rotation axis of each said flap, for reducing, on the one hand, the forces required for limiting opening of each said flaps and, on the other, for reducing the forces acting on the rotational guide and retaining means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.