Radially Projecting Struts for Prosthetic Heart Valve Anchoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional collapsible prosthetic heart valves face challenges in anchoring within the native valve annulus, particularly where calcification or plaque is lacking, leading to potential damage from high radial forces or valve displacement due to low forces, and difficulty in maintaining proper positioning.
Innovation Solution
A prosthetic heart valve design featuring a collapsible and expandable stent with radially projecting struts, including curling and curved struts, that anchor to adjacent heart tissue, providing controlled radial forces and improved fixation, along with a valve assembly and optional frame for secure positioning and tissue integration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If high radial forces are applied to anchor the prosthetic valve in the native valve annulus, then anchoring strength is improved, but tissue damage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different properties to different parts of the stent structure. The second struts are specifically designed with curling or curved configurations and tissue coupling features, while the first struts form the cylindrical support structure. This local differentiation allows concentrated anchoring force at specific tissue interface points rather than distributed high radial forces, improving anchoring strength while reducing overall tissue damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The stent is segmented into functional components: first struts forming the cylindrical portion and second struts extending radially outward for tissue coupling. This segmentation separates the support function from the anchoring function, allowing the anchoring struts to be optimized for tissue integration while the cylindrical struts provide structural support, thereby achieving strong anchoring with controlled tissue interaction.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If low radial forces are applied to the prosthetic valve, then tissue damage is reduced, but valve displacement occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The stent is divided into first struts forming a cylindrical structure and second struts extending radially for tissue anchoring. This segmentation allows the second struts to provide localized anchoring points that ensure valve stability without requiring high radial forces across the entire valve structure, thus preventing displacement while minimizing tissue damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The second struts extend in a radial direction perpendicular to the cylindrical axis, creating anchoring points in a different spatial dimension. This dimensional extension allows the valve to be anchored to surrounding tissue without relying solely on radial compression forces, improving positioning stability with lower overall radial forces.
3Device complexity
If conventional stent designs are used without radially projecting struts, then device complexity is reduced, but anchoring effectiveness in non-calcified tissue is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The stent is segmented into first struts forming the cylindrical support structure and second struts extending radially for tissue anchoring. This segmentation adds only the necessary anchoring elements without completely redesigning the entire stent, achieving improved anchoring effectiveness in non-calcified tissue while maintaining reasonable device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The second struts serve multiple functions: providing structural support, enabling tissue anchoring, and facilitating controlled radial forces. This multi-functionality achieves reliable anchoring in non-calcified tissue without requiring separate dedicated anchoring mechanisms, thus limiting the increase in device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A prosthetic heart valve having an inflow end and an outflow end includes a collapsible and expandable stent having a plurality of commissure features, a plurality of first struts and a plurality of second struts. The plurality of first struts define a substantially cylindrical portion and the plurality of second struts have first ends attached to the cylindrical portion and free ends projecting radially outward from the cylindrical portion and configured to couple to adjacent heart tissue to anchor the stent. A collapsible and expandable valve assembly disposed within the stent has a plurality of leaflets coupled to the commissure features.