Patent ID: 8052749

Claim:
An apparatus for endovascularly replacing a patient's heart valve having native leaflets, the apparatus comprising: an expandable anchor supporting a valve, the anchor and valve being adapted for percutaneous delivery and deployment, the anchor having a proximal end, a distal end, a longitudinal axis, and an outer surface, the anchor braided from a shape memory material, the anchor being expandable from a collapsed delivery configuration to a fully deployed configuration; and leaflet engagement elements are attached to the anchor, the leaflet engagement elements extending distally from the anchor at a location proximal of the distal end of the anchor in both the collapased delivery configuration and the fully deployed configuration, the leaflet engagement elements extending over at least a portion of the outer surface of the anchor, wherein, when the anchor is in the collapsed delivery configuration, the leaflet engagement elements are parallel to the longitudinal axis of the anchor; and when the anchor is in the fully deployed configuration, the leaflet engagement elements are adapted to sandwich the native leaflets between the leaflet engagement elements and the anchor.