Patent ID: 6468305
Filing Date: 2002-10-22
Classification: A61F

Abstract:
A prosthetic heart valve for implantation in a heart, comprising:an outer orifice ring; a tissue attachment mechanism on the outer orifice ring adapted to couple the outer orifice ring to a tissue annulus of the heart; an inner orifice ring having an occluding mechanism carried therein; and a ring coupling mechanism adapted to couple the outer orifice ring to the inner orifice ring after the outer orifice ring has been coupled to the tissue annulus, the coupling mechanism comprising a first helical thread on an outer diameter of the inner ring and a second helical thread on an inner diameter of the outer ring, at least one of the diameters including a retaining ridge configured to define an unthreaded region between the retaining ridge and the respective thread, wherein when a helical thread of the other ring is positioned in the unthreaded region, the inner ring is rotatable in the outer ring with substantially no movement in an axial direction of the valve.