Methods and Apparatus for Endovascular Heart Valve Replacement Comprising Tissue Grasping Elements

Abstract

A method for endovascularly replacing a patient's heart valve including the following steps: endovascularly delivering an anchor and a replacement valve supported within the anchor to a vicinity of the heart valve in a collapsed delivery configuration, the anchor having grasping elements adapted to grasp tissue in a vicinity of the heart valve; expanding the anchor, thereby rotating the grasping elements; and grasping the tissue with the rotating grasping elements.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for endovascularly replacing a patient's native heart valve, the method comprising:
 delivering an expandable anchor and a replacement valve to a vicinity of the native heart valve, wherein leaflet engagement elements extend distally from the anchor at a location which is proximal to a distal end of the anchor;   sandwiching native valve leaflets between the distally extending leaflet engagement elements and the anchor; and   expanding the anchor from a collapsed delivery configuration to an expanded configuration to secure the anchor within the native heart valve; and   positioning a proximal end of the anchor further from a left ventricle than the distal end of the anchor;   wherein the replacement valve allows the flow of blood through the replacement valve in a first configuration and prevents the flow of blood through the valve in a second configuration.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein expanding the anchor from a collapsed delivery configuration to an expanded configuration comprises allowing the anchor to self-expand to thereby sandwich the native valve leaflets between the distally extending leaflet engagement elements and the anchor. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the leaflet engagement elements extend generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the expandable anchor when the anchor is in the expanded configuration. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the expandable anchor and the replacement valve are delivered as two separate elements, the method further comprising deploying the expandable anchor and the replacement valve in the vicinity of the native heart valve in two different steps. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising engaging the expandable anchor and the replacement valve after they are deployed in the vicinity of the native heart valve to secure the replacement heart valve to the expandable anchor. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the replacement heart valve comprises an expandable support structure and replacement valve leaflets, and wherein engaging the expandable anchor and the replacement valve in the vicinity of the native heart valve comprises coupling the expandable anchor and the expandable support structure to secure the replacement heart valve to the expandable anchor.