St. Jude Medical, Inc.

William R Kramlinger

Michael J Girard

Jonas A Runquist

Kimberly A Anderson

Guy P Vanney

Bob Allan

Avrom M Brendzel

James E Graf

Scott D Moore

James L Pokorney

A prosthetic heart valve includes an orifice ring adapted to carry blood therethrough. An annular recess is formed in an outer surface of the orifice ring and has first and second axially spaced walls. A sewing cuff is adapted to be coupled to a native tissue annulus of a heart and includes an inner annular cuff portion adapted to conform to the first and second recess walls in the orifice ring. A cuff retaining ring extends around the inner annular fabric portion such that the inner annular cuff portion is positioned between the cuff retaining ring and the annular recess. The cuff retaining ring is further adapted to exert a substantially axially directed force directed against the annular cuff portion and first and second axially spaced walls of the annular recess, which is substantially greater than a radial force directed substantially inwardly by the cuff retaining ring against an annulus of the recess located between the first and second walls, whereby a controllable torque to rotate the cuff relative to the orifice ring is developed substantially due to friction between the first and second recess walls cuff portion and the annular recess.

Heart valve prosthesis with rotatable cuff

The invention provides a sewing cuff assembly for mounting to the body of a heart valve prosthesis. The sewing cuff assembly comprises a resiliently deformed spring for exerting a force directed toward the orifice structure. When a torque is applied to the valve, the force results in a rotation-resisting torque sufficient to resist rotation during normal operation of the valve after implantation but low enough to permit assisted rotation, as during surgery.

Rotatable cuff assembly for a heart valve prosthesis

A fluid control valve has a valve body with a cylindrical bore and a plurality of channels which communicate between the bore and the outside of the valve body. The inner ends of at least two of the channels lie in a first plane, and the inner end of at least one of the channels lie in a second plane. A valve stem rotatably mounted in the bore has two independent channels. One of the channels has two ends lying in the first plane, while the other channel has one end lying in the first plane and the other end lying in the second plane.

Bi-planar fluid control valve

Growing community of inventors

Shoreview, MN, United States of America

William R Kramlinger