CPC A61F 2/2418 (2013.01) [A61F 2/2409 (2013.01); A61F 2/2433 (2013.01); A61F 2/2412 (2013.01); A61F 2/90 (2013.01); A61F 2220/0075 (2013.01); A61F 2230/0023 (2013.01); A61F 2230/0052 (2013.01); A61F 2250/0003 (2013.01); A61F 2250/0039 (2013.01); A61F 2250/0069 (2013.01); A61F 2310/00017 (2013.01); A61F 2310/00029 (2013.01); A61F 2310/00059 (2013.01)] | 23 Claims |
1. A system, comprising:
a delivery catheter comprising a balloon; and
an implantable prosthetic heart valve, comprising:
a plastically expandable and compressible unitary frame having an inflow end portion and an outflow end portion, the frame comprising a plurality of circumferentially extending rows of angled struts, including a first row of angled struts at a terminal inflow end of the frame, a second row of angled struts downstream of the first row of angled struts, and a third row of angled struts downstream of the second row of angled struts, the first and the second row of angled struts forming a first row of diamond-shaped cells, the second and the third rows of angled struts forming a second row of diamond-shaped cells, and
a valvular structure comprising a plurality of leaflets formed of pericardial tissue, each leaflet having a coaptation edge and a cusp edge portion, wherein each leaflet is secured to an adjacent leaflet to form a plurality of commissures that are fixed relative to the frame;
wherein the cusp edge portion of each leaflet is connected to the frame by an inner skirt that is connected to and disposed between the frame and the cusp edge portions of the leaflets, the skirt being sutured to selected struts of the rows of angled struts along diagonal suture paths extending from the inflow end portion toward the outflow end portion;
wherein each diagonal suture path along which the skirt is sutured to the selected struts of the rows of angled struts extends along a first strut of the first row of angled struts, a second strut of the second row of angled struts, and a third strut of the third row of angled struts such that sutures of the diagonal suture path are coupled to the first strut, the second strut, and the third strut; and
wherein the implantable prosthetic heart valve can be mounted around the balloon in a compressed configuration and radially expanded to an expanded configuration with the balloon inside a patient's body;
wherein the inner skirt is coupled to the frame using a whip stitch pattern of sutures that extend around selected struts of the frame, wherein the whip stitch pattern of sutures forms each diagonal suture path that extends along a respective first strut of the first row of angled struts, a respective second strut of the second row of angled struts, and a respective third strut of the third row of angled struts.
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