Packaging for dry tissue prosthetic heart valve

• Main Authors: Dudney, Joshua, Garde, Kshitija, Tien, Tracey, Clarke, David, Olney, Karl, Wang, Wei, Devereux, Paul, Ryan, Raymond, McKinley, Laura, Darekar, Yogesh, Guo, Ya, Lehmann, Luke, Wong, Benjamin
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 30.04.2024
• Subjects: ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; CHEMICAL ASPECTS OF BANDAGES, DRESSINGS, ABSORBENT PADS, ORSURGICAL ARTICLES; CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS,e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES,DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; CONVEYING; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF,TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, E.G. STENTS; DISINFECTION, STERILISATION, OR DEODORISATION OF AIR; FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; FIRST-AID KITS; FOMENTATION; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL; HUMAN NECESSITIES; HYGIENE; MATERIALS FOR BANDAGES, DRESSINGS, ABSORBENT PADS, OR SURGICALARTICLES; MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR STERILISING MATERIALS OR OBJECTS INGENERAL; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; PACKAGES; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PROSTHESES; STORING; TRANSPORTING; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS

A "dry" packaging in which a prosthetic heart valve is packaged within a container with hydrogel that can be provided in many forms. Certain embodiments include hydrogel that is preloaded with glycerol or the like. The hydrogel regulates the humidity within the container through a diffusion-driven mechanism if a gradient of humidity between the inside and the outside of the hydrogel exists. Humidity regulation is important to prevent the tissue of the valve structure from drying out. When the partially-hydrated hydrogel is present within container, which is saturated with air of a predefined humidity, the water molecules from the air will be absorbed by the hydrogel if the air humidity is high (i.e. when the thermodynamics favor hydrogel hydration) or vice versa. Various embodiments are configured to also house at least a portion of a delivery device for delivering the prosthetic heart valve.