Reinforcement Materials for Prosthetic Heart Valves

Prosthetic heart valve design with improved stress isolation and leaflet durability in transcatheter valve replacement procedures. The valve has patches attached to the commissure attachment features of the stent to absorb forces during valve operation. The patches can be rigid or billowing to provide stress isolation. This reduces mechanical stresses on the leaflet tissue, especially in cobalt-chromium stents where the leaflets are coupled directly to the stent. The patches are disposed around the commissure features and the leaflets are attached to the patches instead of the stent.

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A balloon-expandable transcatheter heart valve prosthesis with improved durability and prevention of contact between the valve leaflets and stent frame during expansion. The prosthesis has a molded valve with a reinforcement member attached directly to the inflow cylinder adjacent to the leaflets. This reinforcement prevents the leaflets from hitting the frame and adds strength to the valve attachment point. Additionally, tacking stitching secures the inflow cylinder to the inner skirt to prevent bulging away from the frame during expansion.

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Prosthetic heart valve with non-uniform leaflets that have movable sections and stiffer sections. The valve has a frame that expands and contracts. The leaflets are attached to the frame and have sections that move during valve opening/closing, and stiffer sections. The movable sections allow flexible leaflet motion, while the stiffer sections provide support and prevent excessive leaflet deformation. This reduces stress concentrations and leaflet tears compared to uniform leaflets. The non-uniform leaflets are formed as single continuous pieces. The valve assembly method involves attaching the stiffer sections to the frame while the movable sections are left flexible.

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Artificial heart valve leaflets made of polymer materials that have improved tear resistance compared to conventional polymer leaflets. The leaflets are made by coating a polyurethane layer onto a substrate of polyolefin or polysiloxane. The coating process involves dissolving the polyurethane in a solvent like N,N-dimethylacetamide and spreading it onto the substrate. This provides a composite leaflet with a hard segment (urethane) layer on a soft segment (polyolefin or polysiloxane) substrate. The composite structure improves tear resistance of the polymer leaflets. The coated leaflets also have better biocompatibility and adhesion to platelets compared to uncoated polymer leaflets.

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Prosthetic heart valve with safety mechanisms to prevent failure. The valve has leaflets that rotate on hinges around a base. An angled dihedral guard protrudes inward from the base. Each leaflet has a slot matching the dihedral guard angle. When the valve closes, the leaflets align with the guard to prevent over-rotation and prevent the leaflets from falling below the guard. This prevents valve failure by preventing leaflet distortions, hinge fractures, poor valve longevity, and prosthetic valve leakages.

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Transcatheter prosthetic heart valves that can be compressed for delivery via a catheter without damaging the leaflets. The valves have a skirt that fully encapsulates the leaflets both when compressed and expanded. This prevents localized forces from deforming the leaflets during compression. The skirt extends beyond the leaflet edges in the compressed state to protect them. The skirt also extends past the coaptation area in the expanded state. This configuration allows consistent loading of the valve into a compact catheter shape without risking leaflet damage.

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Artificial heart valve design with improved durability and reduced calcification compared to traditional valves. The valve has a unique fixation mechanism for the leaflets to attach to the stent. The stent has a walled groove that the leaflets pass through and connect to. This allows evenly fixing the leaflets to the stent without wrinkles. This reduces stress concentration and calcification compared to sewing the leaflets to the stent. The smooth leaflet attachment prevents tears and calcification from blood flow impact.

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Artificial heart valve design with improved durability and fixation for percutaneous interventional implantation. The valve has a skirt unit with a downward concave defect and a leaflet unit with a matching downward protrusion. The skirt and leaflet connect with sutures through the concave/protrusion interface. This allows the skirt to anchor against the heart wall and prevent upward displacement of the leaflets. The valve also has lifting parts on the leaflets that wrap around the stent mesh to secure it. This prevents upward migration of the valve during expansion. The stent has positioning members with roots and bottoms. The roots attach to the stent and the bottoms penetrate the heart wall for anchoring. This allows the valve to expand and secure itself without separating from the stent. The lifting parts, protrusions, and roots provide additional fixation points compared

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An artificial heart valve design to improve durability and reduce replacement frequency. The valve has a reinforcing layer added to the leaflets and a suture ring around the frame. The reinforcing layer increases leaflet strength and fatigue resistance. The suture ring provides additional support and anchoring for the valve in the native annulus. The reinforcing layer is fixed to the leaflet base and extends into the suture ring. This disperses stress and prevents concentration at the leaflet base. The suture ring can extend into the aorta or left atrium for secure anchoring.

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An artificial heart valve design that aims to improve durability and reduce complications compared to conventional heart valves. The valve has multiple independently functioning incompressible valves connected together. Each valve has its own support seat and frame with attached leaflets. This modular design allows for customizable valve sizes without sacrificing fatigue performance. The multiple valves prevent compression of the native aortic valve and mitigate left ventricular outflow tract obstruction risks. It also reduces valve height compared to a single large valve.

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Transcatheter-delivered prosthetic tricuspid heart valves that can be deployed via catheters to replace sub-optimally functioning native tricuspid valves. The prosthetic valves have features to anchor them securely in the tricuspid anatomy, including flaps and arms to engage surrounding structures. This mitigates migration. The valves also have shaped leaflets and occluders to improve sealing and reduce paravalvular leakage. The deployment catheter systems have curved inner catheters to navigate the tricuspid anatomy via the vena cavas.

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Bionic heart valve leaflet with a three-layer structure that aims to replicate the natural heart valve leaflet's functionality and improve durability and endothelialization compared to existing synthetic valves. The leaflet has three layers: a fabric layer, a collagen layer, and a glycosaminoglycan layer. The fabric layer is made of a reticulated structure using non-degradable high-strength flexible fabric like polyester or nylon. This provides the elasticity needed for the leaflet to open and close. The collagen layer restrains leaflet movement and provides support. The glycosaminoglycan layer absorbs water and swells to buffer the leaflet movement. This bionic leaflet aims to provide elasticity, support, and buffer functions similar to the natural heart valve leaflet.

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Artificial heart valve with improved coordination between leaflets to reduce regurgitation and prolong valve life. The leaflets have connecting ears on each side that have aligned holes. A flexible connector with matching holes is inserted through the holes to join the adjacent leaflets. This allows motion transmission between the leaflets for better coordination and reduces regurgitation compared to sewn leaflets with variable heights.

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Prosthetic heart valve with adjustable commissure supports that allow the valve to be expanded to a wide range of diameters while maintaining proper leaflet coaptation. The commissure supports have adjustable arms that can be rotated or twisted to adjust the tension on the attached leaflets. This allows customizing the valve diameter for each patient by adjusting the commissure support arms to match the expansion diameter of the valve frame. A delivery assembly allows in-situ adjustment of the commissure supports after valve implantation.

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Heart valve prosthesis made of a tubular support member with braided outer layers and leaflets attached to the inner wall. The leaflets are made by interlacing inner warp and weft threads to form layers. The leaflet edges are entangled between the outer braided layers using the inner weft threads. This allows the valve to be made entirely of woven fabric instead of separate components sewn together. The braided outer layers provide structure while the interlaced leaflets allow valve motion. The woven construction reduces fatigue and allows customized leaflet shapes.

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Prosthetic heart valve leaflet assembly with asymmetrical leaflets and commissure assembly configurations to improve durability and reduce wear compared to conventional symmetrical leaflet designs. The leaflets have tabs with vertical extensions that fold over adjacent leaflet tabs to form commissures.

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Leaflet assembly techniques for prosthetic heart valves. It involves attaching the leaflets to the frame by passing their tabs through windows in the frame and then securing them in place. The tabs have upper and lower portions separated by a gap. This allows the tabs to be inserted through the frame windows. Once inserted, the tabs are folded over and stitched together. The leaflets cannot pass back through the windows due to the gap between the upper and lower tab portions.

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Prosthetic heart valve design that improves durability and prevents leaflet damage by using a skirt between the leaflets and frame. The skirt buffers the leaflets from direct contact with the frame when they close, preventing concentrations of stress that can tear or damage the leaflets. The skirt also provides reinforcement at the connection points between the skirt and frame. The skirt is sewn to the leaflet first, then to the frame, allowing the skirt to act as a cushion between the leaflet and frame. This prevents direct pulling forces on the leaflets when they close. The skirt also provides a reinforced area at the connection points between the skirt and frame, which reduces stress concentrations and makes the area flat for easier handling.

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Method of assembling prosthetic heart valves with improved leaflet attachment using buckle clamps. The assembly method involves pre-assembling the leaflets by wrapping their tabs around buckle clamps. The preassembled leaflet/clamp units are then attached to the valve frame. This improves attachment compared to directly suturing leaflet tabs to the frame.

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A bionic heart valve with improved durability and flexibility compared to existing prosthetic heart valves. The valve has a three-layer valve leaflet structure with an inner reinforcement layer sandwiched between an outer base layer and a wrapping layer. The reinforcement layer provides strength while the base and wrapping layers improve flexibility. This balance between strength and flexibility improves the valve's overall durability and reduces the risk of thromboembolism. The valve also has a sewing ring with a variable diameter shape to match the valve frame and facilitate suturing.

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