Prosthetic heart valves

摘要

A prosthetic heart valve (10) (e.g., a prosthetic aortic valve) is designed to be somewhat circumferentially collapsible and then re-expandable. The collapsed condition may be used for less invasive delivery of the valve into a patient. When the valve reaches the implant site in the patient, it re-expands to normal operating size, and also to engage surrounding tissue of the patient. The valve includes a stent portion (200) and a ring portion (100) that is substantially concentric with the stent portion but downstream from the stent portion in the direction of blood flow through the implanted valve. When the valve is implanted, the stent portion engages the patient's tissue at or near the native valve annulus, while the ring portion engages tissue downstream from the native valve site (e.g., the aorta).

主权项

1. A prosthetic heart valve comprising:
an annular supporting structure including (1) an annular stent, and (2) a ring that is substantially concentric with the stent and located downstream from the stent in the direction of blood flow when the valve is in use in a patient, the stent having a blood-outflow region that includes a plurality of annularly spaced commissure tips at which the stent is closest to the ring, the ring being connected to the stent substantially solely by flexible strut structures that extend from the stent to the ring adjacent to the commissure tips, each of the flexible strut structures starting from a respective point or points on the stent that are farther from the ring than the commissure tips; and a plurality of valve leaflets supported by the stent, the ring being downstream from the stent sufficiently far that the leaflets cannot contact the ring; wherein the ring has a first resistance to annular compression, and the stent has a second resistance to annular compression, the first resistance being greater than the second resistance.