Heart valve with dog-leg pivot

Claim 1

A heart valve prosthesis comprising an annular valve body having an interior wall forming a central passageway therethrough of generally circular cross section, a pair of leaflets proportioned to block blood flow through said passageway when said leaflets are disposed in a closed position, each of said leaflets having an arcuate major edge which abuts said valve body in the closed position and a substantially planar minor edge, means which pivotably interconnects each of said leaflets and said valve body for relative pivotal movement between the closed position and an open position, which interconnecting means includes pairs of depressions formed in generally opposite locations in said interior wall and pairs of guides extending laterally from each of said leaflets, said depressions each having an upstream section which is aligned substantially parallel to the centerline of said central passageway and a downstream section which connects to said upstream section and angles outward from the point of connection, and arcuate seat means formed in said heart valve body having surfaces facing downstream with respect to the normal direction of flow of blood through said passageway, said seat means being located relative to upstream ends of said depressions such that, upon the beginning of backflow, said leaflet guides first move from the downstream ends of said downstream sections to the ends of said upstream sections and thereafter finally move downstream within said upstream sections to intermediate locations when said leaflets engage said seat means, so that the force created by backflow blood pressure between said guides and the walls of said depression is unloaded when said leaflets reach said closed position, whereby wear at the location of said interconnecting means is minimized.