Prosthetic heart valve composed of composite fibers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10716671-B2
Application number	US-201615193794-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2016
Priority date	Jul 2, 2015
Publication date	Jul 21, 2020
Grant date	Jul 21, 2020

Abstract

A prosthetic heart leaflet includes a fiber-reinforced structure including a plurality of composite fibers. Each composite fiber includes a core fiber and a sheathing fiber disposed about the core fiber, wherein the core fiber or the sheathing fiber has a curvilinear shape.

First claim

We claim:

1. A prosthetic heart valve leaflet comprising a fiber-reinforced structure including a plurality of composite fibers, each composite fiber comprising a plurality of elastomeric core fibers encapsulated within a common sheathing fiber disposed about the plurality of elastomeric core fibers,
wherein the common sheathing fiber fills a space between the plurality of elastomeric core fibers such that they do not touch one another;
wherein each elastomeric core fiber in the plurality of elastomeric core fibers has an undulating, non-linear shape within the common sheathing fiber when the composite fiber is in a relaxed state, and a straight, linear shape within the common sheathing fiber when the composite fiber is stretched in a strained state.

2. The prosthetic heart valve leaflet of claim 1 , wherein weight ratio of the elastomeric core fibers to the sheathing fiber ranges from 1:5 to 5:1.

3. The prosthetic heart valve leaflet of claim 1 , wherein the elastomeric core fibers and the sheathing fiber are made of different polymeric materials.

4. The prosthetic heart valve leaflet of claim 1 , wherein the sheathing fiber comprises a thermoplastic polymer.

5. The prosthetic heart valve leaflet of claim 1 , wherein the elastomeric core fibers comprise a tensile modulus that is greater than a tensile modulus of the sheathing fiber.

6. The prosthetic heart valve leaflet of claim 1 , wherein the elastomeric core fibers or the sheathing fiber comprises carbon fillers.

7. The prosthetic heart valve leaflet of claim 1 , wherein the composite fiber includes a coating comprising polyethylene glycol.

8. The prosthetic heart valve leaflet of claim 1 , wherein the composite fibers are electrospun composite fibers.

9. The prosthetic heart valve leaflet of claim 1 , each composite fiber comprising at least three elastomeric core fibers encapsulated within the sheathing fiber.

10. The prosthetic heart valve leaflet of claim 9 , wherein the at least three elastomeric core fibers form a helical shape within the sheathing fiber.

Assignees

• Boston Scient Scimed Inc

Inventors

• Eppihimer Michael
• Edelman Peter G

Classifications

• A61F2/2412 Primary

  with soft flexible valve members, e.g. tissue valves shaped like natural valves · CPC title

• A61F2230/0069

  cylindrical · CPC title

• A61F2250/0018

  differing in elasticity, stiffness or compressibility · CPC title

• A61F2240/001

  Designing or manufacturing processes · CPC title

• A61F2230/0091

  helically-coiled or spirally-coiled, i.e. having a 2-D spiral cross-section · CPC title