Patent ID: 7452371

Claim:
An implantable valve for a bodily passage of tubular shape, comprising: a self-expanding support frame having a first end and a second end, said support frame configured for expansion to conform to a wall of the bodily passage, said support frame having only two, three or four bends occurring at each end of said first end and said second end of said support frame, said bends configured to provide outward radial force for expansion of said self-expanding frame to anchor the implantable valve to the wall of the bodily passage, said support frame when expanded providing a plurality of side elements each defining a path extending at least partially longitudinally along the wall and at least partially circumferentially around the wall, only two, three or four leaflets, each leaflet having a body extending from a wall-engaging outer edge to an inner edge proximate a corresponding inner edge of at least one other leaflet of the plurality of leaflets, the inner edges of said leaflets cooperable to define an opening therebetween to permit fluid flow in a first direction along the bodily passage, and further cooperable to engage each other sufficiently to restrict fluid flow in a second direction opposing the first direction, the outer edge of each one of the leaflets includes an attachment extending along at least selected ones of the side elements such that the outer edge is adapted to resiliently and sealingly engage the wall of the bodily passage along said path, wherein said attachment includes an amount of the outer edge of the leaflet wrapped around a corresponding side element to which the outer edge is attached so as to provide an amount of material from which the leaflet is made occurring on an outer side of said corresponding side element, each leaflet extending along said bodily passage away from the inner edges thereof in said second direction to form a curved structure for trapping fluid against the inner wall of the bodily passage in response to fluid flow in said second direction so as to cause said inner edges of said leaflets to engage one another sufficiently to restrict fluid flow in said second direction; wherein the implantable valve further includes at least one barb to anchor the implantable valve to the wall of the bodily passage; wherein the number of leaflets of said implantable valve is equal to the number of bends occurring at each end of the support frame; and wherein said support frame is adapted to assume a plurality of configurations, a first configuration of the plurality of configurations being a generally flat plane.