Patent ID: 8491650
Filing Date: 2013-07-23
Classification: A61F

Abstract:
1. A delivery device for percutaneously delivering a stented prosthetic heart valve, the prosthetic heart valve being radially self-expandable from a compressed arrangement to a normal, expanded arrangement, the delivery device comprising: an inner shaft assembly including a coupling structure configured to selectively engage prosthetic heart valve; a delivery sheath assembly slidably disposed over the inner shaft assembly and including a distal capsule and a proximal shaft, wherein the capsule is configured to compressively contain the prosthetic heart valve in a compressed arrangement; an outer stability tube coaxially received over the proximal shaft, the stability tube including a proximal region and a distal region; wherein a circumferential rigidity of the capsule is greater than a circumferential rigidity of the distal region; and a handle maintaining the inner shaft assembly, the delivery sheath assembly, and the stability tube, the handling including: