MECHANICAL HEART VALVE WITH COMPRESSIBLE STIFFENING RING

摘要

A prosthetic mechanical heart valve with an annular valve body (18) and with a suture ring (16) and stiffening ring (72) combination wherein the stiffening ring is compressible before contacting a wall of the valve body. The inside diameter (100) of the stiffening ring is consistently greater than the outside diameter (28) of the annular valve body, forming a gap. This inhibits compressive forces from being transmitted to the annular valve body. The heart valve also has beveled stops or recesses for controlling the opening angle of leaflets mounted in the valve body. Because of the gap between the valve body and the stiffening ring, the body can deform in a spring-like manner, providing a spring-closing action.