Collapsible Prosthetic Heart Valve for Smaller Delivery Profile
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional surgical procedures for replacing heart valves are risky and invasive, with high morbidity and mortality rates, especially for frail patients, and existing transcatheter valves have limitations in crimped profile diameter affecting delivery through blood vessels.
Innovation Solution
A prosthetic heart valve design with a radially collapsible and expandable frame and leaflet structure, featuring a smaller inflow end diameter, an outer skirt, and angled struts to minimize crimped profile, allowing for percutaneous delivery and reducing vessel entry size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional open-heart surgery is used to replace heart valves, then valve replacement can be performed, but patient morbidity and mortality rates are high and the procedure is highly invasive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible membrane structure that can be collapsed into a small profile for percutaneous delivery and then expanded to its functional size at the implantation site. This flexible shell approach eliminates the need for open-chest surgery and cardiopulmonary bypass, directly resolving the contradiction between patient safety and surgical invasiveness by enabling minimally invasive valve replacement
Solution Approach 2:
The prosthetic valve is designed to be nested within a delivery catheter in a collapsed state, allowing it to be delivered percutaneously through blood vessels. The valve is then expanded from its nested configuration to its functional configuration at the implantation site. This nesting principle enables minimally invasive delivery while maintaining full functional capability, directly addressing the contradiction between invasiveness and patient safety
2Length of moving object
If a prosthetic valve is designed with a smaller crimped profile diameter for percutaneous delivery, then vessel trauma is reduced and patient eligibility increases, but valve structural integrity and sealing capability may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a dynamic structure that transitions from a collapsed low-profile configuration during delivery to an expanded high-strength configuration at implantation. The frame and membrane work together to provide structural integrity when expanded while maintaining a small crimped profile during delivery, resolving the contradiction between size and strength through dynamic reconfiguration
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different structural characteristics to different parts of the valve: the frame provides rigid structural support and radial strength when expanded, while the membrane provides sealing capability. This local differentiation of structural qualities allows the valve to achieve both small crimped profile and adequate structural integrity through optimized material distribution and structural design
3Length of moving object
If a radially expandable frame structure is used to achieve smaller crimped profile, then delivery through femoral artery becomes feasible, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the frame structure and membrane into an integrated assembly where the membrane is secured to the frame at multiple locations. This combined structure achieves both small crimped profile and adequate structural support while reducing the number of separate components, thereby managing device complexity through functional integration rather than component proliferation
Data Source
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AI summary
Embodiments of a radially collapsible and expandable prosthetic heart valve are disclosed. A valve frame can have a tapered profile when mounted on a delivery shaft, with an inflow end portion having a smaller diameter than an outflow end portion. The valve can comprise generally V-shaped leaflets, reducing material within the inflow end of the frame. An outer skirt can be secured to the outside of the inflow end portion of the frame, the outer skirt having longitudinal slack when the valve is expanded and lying flat against the frame when the valve is collapsed. A diagonally woven inner skirt can elongate axially with the frame. Side tabs of adjacent leaflets can extend through and be secured to window frame portions of the frame to form commissures. The window frame portions can be depressed radially inward relative to surrounding frame portions when the valve is crimped onto a delivery shaft.