Valve leaflet attachment in collapsible prosthetic valves

1. A prosthetic heart valve, comprising:

a stent having a collapsed condition and an expanded condition, the stent extending in a longitudinal direction between a proximal end and a distal end and including a plurality of cells arranged in annular rows around a circumference of the stent, each cell being formed by a plurality of struts so that the cells have substantially a diamond shape with a first end pointing toward the distal end of the stent and a second end pointing toward the proximal end of the stent, the plurality of cells including subsets of cells in which the first end of one cell is aligned in the longitudinal direction with the second end of another cell, the plurality of struts including ancons at which multiple struts merge;

a plurality of commissure features disposed on the stent, each of the commissure features being disposed in the longitudinal direction between the first end of the one cell and the second end of the another cell so that the commissure feature is aligned in the longitudinal direction with the first end of the one cell and the second end of the another cell; and

a valve assembly secured to the stent and including a cuff and a plurality of leaflets disposed between the plurality of commissure features and the proximal end of the stent, each of the plurality of leaflets being sutured only to the cuff between respective pairs of the commissure features with a repeating pattern of sutures, the pattern of sutures including a descending seam at a spaced distance from one group of the plurality of struts, an ascending seam at the spaced distance from another group of the plurality of struts, and a vertex between the descending seam and the ascending seam, the pattern of sutures passing between two pairs of adjacent ancons near the vertex.

2. The prosthetic heart valve according to claim 1 , wherein each suture is spaced from an adjacent suture by between about 0.5 mm and about 2.0 mm.

3. The prosthetic heart valve according to claim 1 , wherein an end of the descending seam is spaced between about 0.5 mm and about 2.0 mm proximal of a first commissure feature, and an end of the ascending seam is spaced between about 0.5 mm and about 2.0 mm proximal of a second commissure feature.

4. The prosthetic heart valve according to claim 1 , wherein the spaced distance is less than about 2.0 mm.

5. The prosthetic heart valve according to claim 1 , wherein the pattern of sutures is a repeating parabolic pattern.

6. The prosthetic heart valve according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of leaflets overlaps with a portion of the cuff to form a pocket between the cuff and each of the plurality of leaflets.

7. A prosthetic heart valve, comprising:

a stent having a collapsed condition and an expanded condition, the stent including a plurality of cells, each cell being formed by a plurality of struts; and

a valve assembly secured to the stent and including a cuff and a plurality of leaflets, each leaflet including a first edge adjacent to the cuff and a second edge spaced apart from the cuff, the first edge of each leaflet having end portions, a middle portion, and intermediate portions between the middle portion and the end portions, the end portions and the middle portion of the first edge of each leaflet being connected only to the cuff, and the intermediate portions of the first edge of each leaflet being connected to selected ones of the plurality of struts.

8. A prosthetic heart valve, comprising:

a stent having a collapsed condition and an expanded condition, the stent including a plurality of cells, each cell being formed by a plurality of struts;

a plurality of commissure features disposed on the stent; and

a valve assembly secured to the stent and including a cuff and a plurality of leaflets, the cuff having a proximal end and a distal end, the distal end defining a plurality of first peaks and a plurality of second peaks, the first peaks and the second peaks intersecting at intersection points, each of the first peaks extending between a pair of the intersection points and a respective one of the commissure features, and the second peaks extending between adjacent ones of the first peaks.

9. The prosthetic heart valve according to claim 8 , wherein each of the first peaks extends from the pair of intersection points by a first distance to the respective commissure feature, and each of the second peaks extends from a pair of the intersection points by a distance less than the first distance.