Heart valve prosthesis and sutureless implantation of a heart valve prosthesis

Claim 2

1 . A method for implanting a heart valve prosthesis into a patient's heart, the method comprising: inserting the heart valve prosthesis into a barrel of an implanter, such that the prosthesis has a reduced cross-sectional dimension relative to a fully expanded cross-sectional dimension of the prosthesis; opening a patient's chest; creating an opening in tissue to provides a substantially direct path to a desired implantation site in the patient's heart; passing a length of the cylindrical enclosure through the opening to position an end of the implanter near the desired implantation site in the patient; discharging the heart valve prosthesis from the barrel of the implanter; and expanding the heart valve prosthesis at the desired position from the reduced cross-sectional dimension toward the expanded cross-sectional dimension, such that an exterior portion of the heart valve prosthesis engages adjacent tissue to mitigate movement of the prosthesis relative to the adjacent tissue.

Claim 3

2 . The method of claim 1 , the expanding occurring automatically in response to removal of the heart valve prosthesis from the barrel.

Claim 4

3 . The method of claim 1 occuring in the absence of caridiopulmonary bypass.

Claim 5

4 . The method of claim 1 , the blood vessel further providing a generally linear path to the patient's heart.

Claim 6

5 . The method of claim 4 , the opening being created in the patient's pulmonary artery, the patient's aorta or heart muscle of the patient.

Claim 7

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising urging a portion of the tissue that surrounds the opening into engagement with part of the implanter to mitigate blood loss through the opening.

Claim 8

7 . The method of claim 6 , the urging further comprising applying a purse string around the opening and tightening the purse string around an adjacent part of the implanter at the opening to mitigate the blood loss through the opening.

Claim 9

8 . The method of claim 1 , the heart valve prosthesis further comprising a generally cylindrical support extending between opposed ends thereof, a plurality of elongated support features extending generally axially between the opposed ends of the support, the support features being interconnected at ends of the support, and a tissue valve mounted within the support so as to radially expand commensurately with the support.

Claim 10

9 . The method of claim 8 , the support further comprising a generally circular array of biasing elements at each end of the support that interconnect adjacent support features and urge the interconnected adjacent support features apart from each other.

Claim 11

10 . The method of claim 8 , the support further comprising a set of projections at each of the opposed ends of the support and biased to extend axially and radially outwardly from the support, the projections engaging adjacent tissue after the heart valve prosthesis expands to the expanded cross-sectional dimension to help anchor the prosthesis relative to the patient's heart.

Claim 12

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising attaching a length of at least one suture to the prosthesis and, after discharging the prosthesis, using the at least one suture to adjust the relative position of the prosthesis.

Claim 13

12 . A method for implanting a heart valve prosthesis into a patient's heart, the method comprising: inserting the heart valve prosthesis into a generally cylindrical and elongated enclosure, such that the prosthesis has a reduced cross-sectional dimension corresponding to a dimension of the cylindrical enclosure, the prosthesis being configured to self-expand from the reduced cross-sectional dimension to an expanded cross-sectional dimension, which is greater than the reduced cross-sectional dimension; creating an opening in tissue to provide a generally linear path to a desired implantation position in the patient's heart; passing an open end of the cylindrical enclosure through the opening; positioning the open end of the cylindrical enclosure near the desired implantation position in the patient's heart; discharging the heart valve prosthesis from the cylindrical enclosure, whereupon the heart valve prosthesis expands from the reduced cross-sectional dimension to an expanded cross-sectional dimension, such that an exterior portion of the heart valve prosthesis engages adjacent tissue to mitigate movement of the prosthesis relative to the adjacent tissue.

Claim 14

12 . A method for implanting a heart valve prosthesis into a patient's heart, the method comprising: inserting the heart valve prosthesis into a generally cylindrical and elongated enclosure, such that the prosthesis has a reduced cross-sectional dimension corresponding to a dimension of the cylindrical enclosure, the prosthesis being configured to self-expand from the reduced cross-sectional dimension to an expanded cross-sectional dimension, which is greater than the reduced cross-sectional dimension; creating an opening in tissue to provide a generally linear path to a desired implantation position in the patient's heart; passing an open end of the cylindrical enclosure through the opening; positioning the open end of the cylindrical enclosure near the desired implantation position in the patient's heart; discharging the heart valve prosthesis from the cylindrical enclosure, whereupon the heart valve prosthesis expands from the reduced cross-sectional dimension to an expanded cross-sectional dimension, such that an exterior portion of the heart valve prosthesis engages adjacent tissue to mitigate movement of the prosthesis relative to the adjacent tissue.

Claim 15

13 . The method of claim 12 , the cylindrical enclosure being part of a generally rigid and substantially linear implanter apparatus.

Claim 16

14 . The method of claim 12 , the blood vessel being the patient's pulmonary artery.

Claim 17

15 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising urging an adjacent part of the blood vessel that surrounds the opening into engagement with part of the cylindrical enclosure to mitigate blood loss through the opening.

Claim 18

16 . The method of claim 15 , the urging further comprising applying a purse string around the adjacent part of the blood vessel that surrounds the opening and tightening the purse string around part of the cylindrical enclosure to mitigate the blood loss through the opening.

Claim 19

17 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising attaching a length of at least one suture to the prosthesis and, after discharging the prosthesis, using the at least one suture, part of which extends from the heart valve prosthesis through the opening, to adjust the relative position of the prosthesis.

Claim 20

18 . A method for implanting a heart valve prosthesis, comprising: creating an opening in a tissue that provides a generally linear path to a desired implantation position in the patient's heart; passing a length of a generally cylindrical barrel through the opening to position an end of a implanter at a desired position in the patient's heart, an expandable heart valve prosthesis being located within the barrel; and discharging the heart valve prosthesis from the barrel to the desired implantation position in the patient's heart so that the discharged valve expands to an expanded cross sectional dimension that contacts adjacent tissue in the patient's heart to mitigate movement of the heart valve prosthesis relative to the patient's heart.

Claim 21

18 . A method for implanting a heart valve prosthesis, comprising: creating an opening in a tissue that provides a generally linear path to a desired implantation position in the patient's heart; passing a length of a generally cylindrical barrel through the opening to position an end of a implanter at a desired position in the patient's heart, an expandable heart valve prosthesis being located within the barrel; and discharging the heart valve prosthesis from the barrel to the desired implantation position in the patient's heart so that the discharged valve expands to an expanded cross sectional dimension that contacts adjacent tissue in the patient's heart to mitigate movement of the heart valve prosthesis relative to the patient's heart.

Claim 22

19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising, after discharging the heart valve prosthesis, using at least one suture, which extends from the prosthesis through the opening, to adjust the relative position of the prosthesis.

Claim 23

20 . The method of claim 18 , the opening being created in one of the patient's pulmonary artery, the patient's aorta or heart muscle of the patient to provide the generally linear path.