Patent ID: 8197538

Claim:
An annuloplasty prosthesis for repairing an atrial-ventricular valve having a valve annulus, the prosthesis comprising: a sheath; an arcuate stiffening element within the sheath, the stiffening element being elongate, having a maximum width and extending between discrete first and second ends that are turned back toward one another and that are separated by a lateral spacing, wherein the stiffening element is included in a first segment of the prosthesis that defines a majority of an arcuate annular shape of the annuloplasty prosthesis; and an imaging element disposed within and extending along at least a portion of the sheath that extends between the first and second ends of the stiffening element, the imaging element being an elongate strip, having a width and extending in the lateral spacing as the imaging element and the sheath extend directly between the first and second ends of the stiffening element without being curved, wherein the elongate strip as comprising the imaging element is greater in width than the maximum width of the stiffening element so that one extension of the elongate strip along the sheath is distinguishable from the stiffening element during an imaging process taken from a direction perpendicular to the arcuate annular shape of the annuloplasty prosthesis, and further wherein the imaging element is included in a second segment of the prosthesis, and the second segment is characterized as being more flexible than the first segment.