Prosthetic Valve Leaflet Attachment Frame for Suture-Free Flexing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing prosthetic heart valves face challenges in being delivered minimally invasively due to their size and require complex suturing methods that can cause stress and failure at the leaflet flexing areas, leading to reduced durability.
Innovation Solution
A two-part foldable frame with scalloped portions supports flexible leaflets, secured by a cloth attachment method that wraps excess cloth portions around the frame, eliminating direct suturing at flexing areas and maintaining consistent arc lengths for even expansion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional suturing methods are used to attach leaflets to the frame, then the leaflets can be secured to the frame, but stress and failure occur at the leaflet flexing areas reducing durability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the sutures from the leaflet flexing areas entirely, extracting the harmful element (needles creating stress concentrations) while preserving the attachment function through an alternative mechanism (cloth portions wrapped around frame struts)
Solution Approach 2:
The cloth portions serve as an intermediary element between the leaflets and the frame, distributing stresses and eliminating direct suture attachment at flexing areas. The cloth wraps around frame struts to provide secure attachment without needle holes in critical stress zones
2Length of moving object
If the valve is compressed to a reduced diameter for delivery, then minimally invasive implantation is enabled, but the frame and leaflet attachment must withstand compression stresses
Solution Approach 1:
The frame is designed to be dynamically compressible and expandable, allowing it to transition from a collapsed delivery configuration to an expanded implanted configuration. The cloth portions and leaflet attachments are designed to accommodate these dynamic shape changes without failure
3Ease of manufacture
If direct suturing is used to attach leaflets to the frame, then the attachment method is simple, but needle holes create stress concentrations leading to failure
Solution Approach 1:
The cloth portions act as an intermediary attachment mechanism, wrapping around frame struts to secure leaflets without direct suture penetration at flexing areas. This maintains manufacturing simplicity while eliminating the harmful effect of needle holes in stress-critical zones
Data Source
Figure 1~2
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Figure 5~6
AI summary
An implantable prosthetic valve (100) has an upper frame section and a lower frame section. The upper frame section (202) has a plurality of struts (210) and a first leaflet receiving surface at a lower portion of the upper frame section. The lower frame section (204) has a second leaflet receiving surface at an upper portion of the lower frame section. An edge of a flexible leaflet (102) is disposed between the first and second leaflet receiving surfaces to attach the leaflet to the upper and lower frame sections.