FLEXIBLE ANNULOPLASTY RING WITH SELECT CONTROL POINTS

摘要

An annuloplasty repair segment for heart valve annulus repair. In one embodiment a multi- stranded cable replaces solid core wire for both the tricuspid and mitral valves. Cable allows for greater deployment flexibility for minimally-invasive surgical (MIS) implant, while still maintaining the required strength and similar tensile properties of solid-core wire. In addition, selective placement of point- welds or other such control points locally control other parameters such as the amount and direction of displacement as the ring undergoes external loading. Cable with well-placed control points result in a MIS annuloplasty ring with sufficient flexibility in the x-y plane to allow a surgeon to squeeze the ring into a small incision, such as for example 1cm x 1cm, while maintaining structural rigidity under forces exerted on the implanted ring by the cardiac cycle and allowing for asymmetrical deflection to be designed into the product.