Heart valve prostheses

摘要

Mechanical heart valve prostheses having either a single occluder or a pair of occluders are designed to permit such occluders to assume an open position parallel to the longitudinal axis of the valve passageway. The pivot arrangements are such that an occluder pivots about a constant center or pivot axis substantially offset from the locations where engagement occurs between the occluder and the valve body, whereby prompt smooth pivoting movement toward the closed position is initiated from an open position parallel to the valve centerline. For example, elongated arcuate shoes protruding from lateral edges of the occluders follow arcuate paths of matching complementary curvature defined by grooves in diametrically opposed flat sidewall sections of the valve body.