Heart Valve Stent

Abstract

A heart valve stent having a section equipped to receive a heart valve implant and several proximally disposed anchoring elements, characterized by several anchoring threads, which with the one end thereof are fastened to the stent, and also with a brace fastening the anchoring threads with the other end thereof to the distal chamber wall to provide tension between the heart chamber wall and the proximally anchored anchoring elements.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application represents a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12 / 677,958, filed Sep. 9, 2010, pending, a National Stage application of PCT / DE2008 / 001515 entitled “Heart Valve Stent”, filed Sep. 10, 2008.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The invention refers to a valve stent with a section equipped to receive a heart valve implant and several of proximally disposed anchoring elements.[0003]Such heart valve stents are known in various forms for the replacement dysplastic and degenerated heart valves. Thereby, the surgical implantation of heart valve prostheses is regularly accomplished in the cardioplegic heart. The old, functionally degenerated heart valve is resected and the new, implantable heart valve is sewed in.[0004]However, when the mitral valve is affected, one tries, as far as possible, to maintain the old valve in spite of its malfunctioning so that the entire dynamic mital valve apparatus is not disturbed. The reason fo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016]The basic idea of the invention is to produce a heart valve stent which establishes the anatomic requirements for the natural exertion of the function—like a healthy heart. In the process, the invention-related heart valve stent with its self-expanding, foldable embodiment establishes a minimally-invasive operation which assures an exact positioning and secure fixation of the valve stent. Thereby, a tension between the mitral valve and ventricle similar to the natural tension of the chordae tendineae is generated, and at the same time it will be provided that the valve parts of the old mitral valve (especially the anterior mitral valve leaflet) will not disturb the flow rate of the blood.

[0019]Advantages of the heart valve stents which according to the intervention are the exact and easy fixation of the heart valve stent and improved contractility of the heart in minimally-invasive operations inn comparison with customary valve stents.

[0024]After adjusting the counter bearing of the adjusting element to the length of sutures, a notably beneficial design is made so that also a re-adjustment of the tension between the anchoring elements and the counter bearing, i.e. a re-tensioning of the anchoring sutures is possible without opening the heart.

Problems solved by technology

Even with the known solutions there is still the danger that a heart valve is mal-implanted due to wrong positioning and deficient angular adjustment of the heart valve prostheses.

A much larger problem for the optimal positioning of the new heart valve in the stent (alternatively valved stent) still exists in the following: in most cases the old, native valve will not be eliminated by the above-described technique of implantation.

Based on the fact that there are known problems of the valved stents, the challenge of this intervention is to produce a heart valved stent, especially a mitral valved stent, for minimally-invasive transplantation, which preferably facilitates the natural functioning of the heart.

Images