Prosthetic heart valve with increased valve lumen

Claim 1

A heart valve prosthesis for replacing a native valve in a tissue annulus of a heart of a patient, comprising: a monolithic single piece valve orifice housing providing a lumen therethrough and having an outer circumference, a distal annulus, and upstream and downstream rims integral with the rest of the housing and which define a middle surface therebetween and formed on the monolithic signal piece housing, and the rims having rim diameters and extending around the outer circumference of the housing adapted to provide additional stiffness to the single piece valve orifice housing; at least one occluder coupled to the orifice housing movable about a pivot axis between an open position and a closed position in which flow through the lumen is substantially blocked, wherein the pivot axis is configured to be positioned on an upstream side of the tissue annulus of the heart; a flexible suture cuff configured to couple to the orifice housing between the rims around the middle surface and to a proximal side of the tissue annulus of the heart by a cuff retention mechanism; and a lip formed with the single piece valve housing and defined in the outer circumference of the housing between one of said rims and the distal annulus and having a diameter less than the rim diameter, the lip configured to extend through the tissue annulus and generally conforming to the tissue annulus whereby the rims and suture cuff do not substantially limit the area of the lumen of the housing.