Heart Valve Leaflet Crimping With Suction-Guided Inward Capture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heart valve prostheses face challenges in maintaining the integrity of prosthetic leaflets during the crimping process, which can lead to damage such as splitting, peeling, or protrusion, affecting the functionality and profile of the device during transcatheter delivery.
Innovation Solution
The use of crimping accessories with conduits and suction ports to apply inward radial forces on the inner surface of the leaflets, ensuring they are maintained within the stent during crimping, using vacuum or suction to prevent damage and control the leaflet position.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If radial compression force is applied to crimp the valve prosthesis, then the profile is reduced for delivery, but the leaflets may be damaged or protrude
Solution Approach 1:
A crimping accessory with conduits is introduced as an intermediary device between the crimping force and the leaflets. The conduits apply localized suction forces to hold the leaflets radially inward, mediating the interaction between the crimping process and the delicate leaflet structures to prevent damage while achieving profile reduction.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses pneumatic principles by incorporating conduits that apply suction forces to the leaflets. The vacuum ports in the conduits create negative pressure to hold the leaflets radially inward during crimping, using pneumatic force to counteract the outward protrusion tendency and maintain leaflet integrity during compression.
2Reliability
If suction force is applied to hold leaflets radially inward, then leaflet damage is prevented, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The crimping accessory is segmented into multiple conduits, each with vacuum ports positioned to contact specific leaflets. This segmentation allows independent control of suction forces on different leaflets, enabling precise protection of each leaflet during crimping while keeping the overall device structure modular and manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The crimping accessory serves multiple functions: it provides structural support during crimping, applies localized suction forces to hold leaflets radially inward, and maintains the low profile configuration. By combining these functions into a single accessory, the design reduces overall system complexity despite the added functionality.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Prevents damage to the leaflets and maintains a low profile for the transcatheter valve prosthesis, ensuring safe and effective delivery through the vasculature.
Implementation Method 1
the crimping accessory is configured to apply a suction force to the inner surface of the at least one leaflet, the suction force applying an inward radial force to move the at least one leaflet radially inwards
Data Source
AI summary
An assembly including a transcatheter valve prosthesis and a crimping accessory. The transcatheter valve prosthesis including a stent and a valve component including at least one leaflet secured to the stent. The valve prosthesis includes a crimped having a crimped configuration for delivery and an expanded configuration. The crimping accessory assists in transitioning the valve prosthesis into the crimped configuration. In a first embodiment, the crimping accessory includes a conduit having a vacuum port configured to use suction force to move at least one leaflet radially inward. In a second embodiment, the crimping accessory includes a plurality of rods or graspers configured to contact and hold the at least one leaflet and to place a radially inward force as to move the least one leaflet radially inwards. Once each of the embodiments applies a force, the valve prosthesis is partially radially compressed into the crimped configuration.