Prosthetic Heart Valve Commissure Assembly to Reduce Crimp Profile
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Solution Overview
Problem
Suturing of leaflets to themselves and adjacent leaflets in prosthetic heart valves increases bulk, crimp profile, load-bearing, and assembly complexity, making transcatheter delivery difficult and potentially leading to wear and deformation.
Innovation Solution
A commissure assembly with reinforcing members secured to leaflets via suture lines, forming right-angle bends and securing loops to attach leaflets to a frame, preventing direct suturing between leaflets and reducing bulk and load-bearing, while maintaining structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If leaflets are sutured to themselves and adjacent leaflets, then structural stability is improved, but bulk and crimp profile increase making delivery difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the suturing function from the leaflets themselves and relocates it to a separate reinforcing member. The reinforcing member is sutured to the leaflets, which eliminates direct leaflet-to-leaflet suturing and reduces the bulk and crimp profile while maintaining structural stability.
2Strength
If direct suturing between leaflets is used, then connection strength is improved, but load-bearing increases causing wear and deformation
Solution Approach 1:
The reinforcing member serves as an intermediary element between the leaflets. Instead of directly suturing leaflets to each other, the reinforcing member mediates the connection, distributing load-bearing forces and reducing stress concentrations that cause wear and deformation.
3Reliability
If multiple suture lines are used to secure commissure assembly, then reliability is improved, but assembly complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple suture lines into a single integrated reinforcing member structure. This consolidates what would otherwise be multiple separate suturing operations into one unified component, maintaining reliable securing while simplifying the assembly process.
Data Source
AI summary
A prosthetic heart valve includes a radially expandable frame and a valvular structure having a plurality of leaflets. The frame includes one or more commissure windows, with two window struts, to receive and support the leaflets. Each leaflet is attached to the frame by a commissure tab which extends through a commissure window. A reinforcing member is attached to the commissure tab of each leaflet by one or more suture lines. Adjacent commissure tabs and reinforcing members are attached to the window struts by being folded around them and secured with one or more securing loops. In some examples, the commissure tabs can be attached to the window struts without any load-bearing sutures extending through the leaflets.