Patent ID: 8100964

Claim:
An annuloplasty device for repairing a mitral valve, the mitral valve having a valve annulus, the valve annulus having an annulus anterior portion and an annulus posterior portion, the annulus posterior portion and the annulus anterior portion defining a mitral valve opening therebetween, the annulus posterior portion having a generally arcuate shape, the mitral valve having an anterior valve leaflet attached to the annulus anterior portion and a posterior valve leaflet attached to the annulus posterior portion, the anterior and posterior leaflets having respective anterior and posterior free margins, the anterior and posterior leaflets movable between a closed systolic configuration in which the free margins are in an approximated spatial relationship, and an open diastolic configuration in which the free margins are spaced apart to allow blood flow through the mitral valve opening generally along a valve-flow axis, the device comprising: an anterior section and a posterior section coupled to the anterior section, the posterior and anterior sections divided along a first direction, the anterior and posterior sections being configured and sized for attachment to the annulus anterior and posterior portions respectively, the posterior section having a generally curvilinear shape and being permanently formed such that the posterior section is non-planar with respect to the anterior section when viewed in a direction generally parallel to the first direction, whereby when the annuloplasty device is attached to the valve annulus, the posterior section is retained after attachment of the anterior and posterior sections to the annulus to cause the posterior portion of the annulus to assume the non-planar generally curvilinear shape of the posterior section and thereby improve coaptation of the leaflet free margins in the systolic configuration, wherein the annuloplasty device posterior section is permanently formed into first and second subsections, the first subsection being asymmetric relative to the second section about an axis bisecting the annuloplasty device along the first direction, the first direction and the axis being perpendicular to each other.