Percutaneous valve replacement: a novel low-profile polyurethane valved stent.

Fig. 1. (a) Oblique view from top of a self-expanding nitinol stent (length 28 mm, diameter 24 mm, Nitinol Devices & Components Inc., Fremont, CA, USA) containing a three leaflet polyurethane valve. Leaflets have a thickness of approximately 100—150 mm. The stent valves are produced in a dip coating technique (by Mecora GmbH, Aachen, Germany). (b) Low-profile polyurethane valved stent was folded to fit into a 14-French catheter. A modified commercially available endovascular stent-graft system for the treatment of abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms (Medtronic, Talent, Santa Rosa, CA, USA) served as delivery device. The intervention was performed as described previously (Attmann, Lutter et al., Ann Thorac Surg 2005;80:969—75).