Edwards Lifesciences Corporation
Device for measuring an aortic valve annulus in an expanded condition

Abstract:

An orifice-expanding device for measuring an expanded heart valve. The device includes a proximal handle having a shaft and an orifice-expanding device with a hub mounted to a distal end of the shaft and a plurality of arms evenly spaced around the axis and connected to the hub and extending therefrom in a distal direction to distal ends of the arms. The distal end of each arm has an expanding portion with an outer surface, the expanding portions being configured to move radially outward with respect to each other, wherein expansion of the expanding portions causes the distal ends of the arms to flex outward. A pressure-measuring device measures a pressure applied to the aortic valve annulus, and a size-measuring device measures a dimension of the aortic valve annulus after the annulus has been expanded.