Patent ID: 9662207
Date: 2017-05-30
CPC Classifications: A61F

Claim:
1. A method of implanting a prosthetic heart valve in an aortic valve annulus of a patient while the patient's heart remains beating, comprising: accessing a left ventricle through an intercostal incision; forming a puncture in the left ventricle; introducing a guidewire through the puncture and into the left ventricle; advancing the guidewire through a native aortic valve; passing an introducer sheath over the guidewire and through the puncture into the left ventricle, the introducer sheath having a lumen extending therethrough, the introducer sheath including a proximal housing containing a valve assembly for preventing bleeding from the lumen; inserting a valve delivery device over the guidewire, through the valve assembly and through the lumen of the introducer sheath, the valve delivery device having a prosthetic heart valve mounted thereon a deflecting segment located just proximal to the prosthetic heart valve and a pusher having a distal sleeve mounted over the deflecting segment; advancing the valve delivery device over the guidewire until the prosthetic heart valve is located in the aortic valve annulus; using the pusher and sleeve to advance the prosthetic heart valve; proximally displacing the pusher and sleeve with respect to the deflecting segment and then bending the deflecting segment from a proximal handle to facilitate positioning the prosthetic heart valve in the aortic valve annulus; and then expanding the prosthetic heart valve in the aortic valve annulus, wherein the step of expanding the prosthetic heart valve in the aortic valve annulus comprises expanding the prosthetic heart valve in a prosthetic heart valve previously implanted within the native aortic valve annulus.