ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,746,116, issued on Sept. 29, was assigned to Xeltis AG (Zurich).
"Reinforced heart valve leaflets" was invented by Roland Lambertus Joannes Lalieu (Weert, Netherlands) and Martijn Antonius Johannes Cox (Budel, Netherlands).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A heart valve with reinforced leaflets is provided. The free edge of the leaflet and/or the leaflet belly area of the leaflet has a circumferentially aligned band of aligned electrospun fibers with non-aligned fibers. The aligned and/or the non-aligned fibers are bioabsorbable polymer fibers, and are capable of being replaced over time with newly formed tissue. A method is provided to mak...