Patent ID: 11925551
Assignee: EDWARDS LIFESCIENCES CORPORATION
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 22:
23. An assembly comprising:
a delivery catheter comprising a balloon;
an implantable prosthetic valve that is radially compressible to a collapsed configuration and radially expandable to an expanded configuration, the implantable prosthetic valve comprising:
a radially collapsible and expandable annular frame comprising a plurality of angled struts and having an outflow end and an inflow end, wherein the angled struts are arranged to form a plurality of circumferentially extending rows of closed cells, including an uppermost row of closed cells defining the outflow end of the frame and a lowermost row of closed cells defining the inflow end of the frame; and
a leaflet structure positioned within the frame, the leaflet structure comprising a plurality of leaflets each comprising two opposing commissure portions, each leaflet having a lower edge portion coupled to the frame and a width that decreases from the commissure portions to a lowermost end of the leaflet, the lower edge portion extending from commissure portion to the other commissure portion of the leaflet, and each commissure portion being paired with an adjacent commissure portion of an adjacent leaflet to form commissures of the leaflet structure; and

a cloth member that is sutured to the frame;
wherein the frame comprises a plurality of commissure support posts supporting the commissures of the leaflet structure, wherein the commissure support posts have lower ends axially spaced from the inflow end of the frame;
wherein the lower edge portion of each leaflet is sutured to the cloth member along a suture-line that extends continuously along and parallel to lengths of angled struts in multiple rows of angled struts positioned axially between the commissure support posts and the inflow end of the frame;
wherein the lowermost end of each leaflet is at the inflow end of the frame;
wherein the collapsed implantable prosthetic valve can be mounted around the balloon and radially expanded to the expanded configuration with the balloon inside a patient's body;
wherein the lowermost row of closed cells defines a plurality of inflow apices of the frame;
wherein the lower edge portion of each leaflet extends circumferentially from one of the inflow apices to an adjacent inflow apex;
wherein the plurality of angled struts includes a first row of angled struts at least partially defining the uppermost row of closed cells and a second row of angled struts positioned axially upstream of the first row of angled struts; and
wherein the lower edge portion of each leaflet includes first and second opposing side edges, the first side edge being sutured to the cloth member along a first portion of the suture-line that extends in a first direction from a lower end of one of the commissure support posts toward the inflow end of the frame along a first angled strut of the first row and a first angled strut of the second row, and the second side edge being sutured to the cloth member along a second portion of the suture-line that extends in a second direction toward the outflow end of the frame along a second angled strut of the second row and a second angled strut of the first row to a lower end of another one of the commissure support posts.