Patent ID: 7789909

Claim:
A system for replacing the function of a natural heart valve in a human body by a catheterization technique, comprising: an elongate catheter having an opening configured for receiving a guide wire, the catheter sized for advancement into a human heart without opening the thoracic cavity; a self-expandable stent constructed to be radially compressible and re-expandable, the stent having a top end, a bottom end and a metallic outer surface configured to contact native tissue in the human heart; and a collapsible and re-expandable elastical valve comprising three flaps formed of biological tissue, the elastical valve attached to an interior portion of the stent for folding and expanding together with the stent, the elastical valve located between the top and bottom ends of the stent, the elastical valve having three commissural points sutured to the stent, the elastical valve configured to allow blood to flow in one direction such that blood is capable of flowing through the stent from the bottom end toward the top end; wherein the stent and elastical valve are radially compressible from an expanded condition to a compressed condition for advancement through a small inlet opening into a body channel, the stent having a compressed outer diameter of 10 mm or less for placement inside a tubular wall of a cap along a distal end portion of the catheter and wherein the stent is radially self-expandable upon ejection from the cap to a re-expanded condition comprising a re-expanded outer diameter of approximately 27 mm or more such that at least a portion of the stent contacts native tissue in the human heart for securing the stent in the human heart without suturing the stent to native tissue, the stent configured for supporting the elastical valve in the human heart for replacing the function of a natural aortic valve without open heart surgery and wherein the catheter is detachable from the stent and elastical valve such that the catheter can be removed from the human body and the small inlet opening can be closed such that the patient can resume a substantially normal life.