Patent ID: 8070801

Claim:
A prosthetic heart valve in combination with a delivery assembly, the delivery assembly including a first elongate component that is movably disposed to a second elongate component, the delivery assembly having a temporary valve location relative to the delivery assembly to which the prosthetic heart valve can be releasably mounted in position and a spaced implantation location relative to the delivery assembly to which the prosthetic heart valve can also be releasably mounted in position, the prosthetic heart valve and delivery assembly combination being configurable with movement of the first elongate component relative to the second elongate component from a delivery state with the prosthetic heart valve mounted in the temporary location on the delivery assembly to an implantation state with the prosthetic heart valve released from contact with the delivery assembly at the temporary location and relocated to the implantation location so that the prosthetic heart valve can subsequently be deployed from the implantation location.