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Abstract

A method for constructing stents for autologous tissue heart valves is provided. The method includes creating a stent profile primitive which is rotated about a first axis to create a solid stent blank having inner and outer surfaces. First and second splines are created and intersected with the inner and outer surfaces, respectively, to form a plurality of planes. Posts are formed on the stent blank by removal of material above the planes, and filleting is performed to provide a smooth upper surface for each post. Additional features corresponding to whether the stent is an inner or an outer stent for the heart valve are added, and the final stent shape is input into machine tooling which cuts an electrode into the corresponding stent shape. The electrode is then used to dissolve a pattern into a block of metal, such as a nickel-steel alloy, to form the final mold of the stent.

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First Claim