Devices and methods for transcatheter heart valve delivery

A method of delivering a collapsible prosthetic heart valve in a patient, the method comprising:

• providing a delivery device having a catheter assembly and an operating handle, the catheter assembly including a compartment adapted to receive the valve in an assembled condition, the operating handle including a housing defining a movement space therein, a carriage assembly moveable in first and second longitudinal directions within the movement space and including a body and a toothed rack extending from the body, a deployment actuator coupled to the housing and rotatable relative to the housing the deployment actuator including a knob rotatable about a central axis that extends transverse to the first and second longitudinal directions, and a coupling assembly configured to rotate with the coupling assembly having an engaged position with the toothed rack in which rotation of the deployment actuator moves the carriage assembly in the longitudinal direction, and a disengaged position from the toothed rack in which rotation of the deployment actuator does not move the carriage assembly in the longitudinal direction the deployment actuator;
• loading the valve into the compartment of the catheter assembly and covering the compartment and the valve with a distal sheath of the catheter assembly;
• inserting the catheter assembly into the patient so that the valve is positioned at a target location within the patient;
• partially deploying the valve by moving the carriage assembly of the operating handle in the first longitudinal direction along a first portion of the movement space;
• and
• fully deploying the valve by continuing movement of the carriage assembly in the first longitudinal direction along a second portion of the movement space.