Patent ID: 9572660
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: A61F,A61L

Claim:
1. A prosthetic heart valve comprising: an annular supporting structure including (1) an annular stent, and (2) a ring that is substantially concentric with the stent and located downstream from the stent in the direction of blood flow when the valve is in use in a patient, the stent having a blood-outflow region that includes a plurality of annularly spaced commissure tips at which the stent is closest to the ring, the ring being connected to the stent substantially solely by flexible strut structures that extend from the stent to the ring adjacent to the commissure tips, each of the flexible strut structures starting from a respective point or points on the stent that are farther from the ring than the commissure tips; and a plurality of valve leaflets supported by the stent, the ring being downstream from the stent sufficiently far that the leaflets cannot contact the ring; wherein the ring has a first resistance to annular compression, and the stent has a second resistance to annular compression, the first resistance being greater than the second resistance.