Methods and apparatus for endovascular heart valve replacement comprising tissue grasping elements

1. A method for endovascularly replacing a patient's heart valve, the method comprising:

endovascularly delivering an anchor and a replacement valve supported within the anchor to a vicinity of the heart valve in a collapsed delivery configuration, the anchor comprising a distal end and proximal end, and at least one grasping element adapted to grasp tissue in the vicinity of the heart valve;

deploying the anchor, wherein deploying the anchor comprises rotating the at least one grasping element from a delivery configuration to a second configuration, wherein in the second configuration the at least one grasping element extends distally from the proximal end of the anchor and wherein in the second configuration the at least one grasping element is at a first angle relative to the anchor, wherein deploying the anchor further comprises positioning the proximal end of the anchor further from a left ventricle than the distal end of the anchor; and

grasping the tissue between the at least one grasping element and the anchor.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising locking the anchor in a deployment configuration after the deploying and grasping steps.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein grasping the tissue between the at least one grasping element and the anchor comprises grasping valve leaflets of the patient's heart valve between the at least one grasping element and the anchor.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein grasping valve leaflets further comprises pulling the valve leaflets toward the anchor during diastole.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein grasping the tissue comprises grasping an annulus of the patient's heart valve with the at least one grasping element.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein grasping the tissue further comprises grasping both an annulus and valve leaflets of the patient's heart valve with the at least one grasping element.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sealing the at least one grasping element against the tissue.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein sealing the at least one grasping element further comprises capturing at least a portion of a seal between leaflets of the heart valve and a wall of the heart.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein sealing the at least one grasping element further comprises capturing at least a portion of a seal against an annulus of the heart valve.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein sealing the at least one grasping element further comprises reducing blood flow around the replacement valve when the anchor and replacement valve are fully deployed.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein rotating the at least one grasping element comprises moving a first and a second grasping element radially relative to one another.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein rotating the at least one grasping element comprises moving a first and second grasping element laterally relative to one another.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein grasping the tissue comprises resisting movement of the anchor in at least one direction via the at least one grasping elements.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein deploying the anchor further comprises:

removing a constraint on the anchor such that the anchor self-expands from a delivery configuration to a larger diameter at-rest configuration; and

actively expanding the anchor to an even larger diameter deployed configuration.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein removing the constraint on the anchor further comprises rotating the at least one grasping element from a position substantially parallel with the anchor in the delivery configuration to a second configuration.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein actively expanding the anchor further comprises rotating the at least one grasping element from the second configuration to a third configuration at a second angle with the anchor in the deployed configuration.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first angle is larger than the second angle.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the second angle is larger than the first angle.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein grasping the tissue comprises grasping the tissue during transition of the anchor from the at-rest configuration to the deployed configuration.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein endovascularly delivering the anchor and the replacement valve further comprises endovascularly delivering the anchor and the replacement valve within a delivery sheath, and wherein removing the constraint on the anchor further comprises deploying the anchor and the replacement valve from the delivery sheath.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising resheathing the anchor and the replacement valve within the delivery sheath after self-expansion of the anchor to the at-rest configuration.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein grasping the tissue comprises distributing forces applied to the tissue amongst more than one grasping element, thereby reducing a risk of misalignment.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein rotating the at least one grasping element from the delivery configuration to the second configuration comprises allowing the at least one grasping element to self-expand to the second configuration.

24. The method of claim 1 , further comprising rotating the at least one grasping element relative to the anchor from the second configuration to a third configuration in which the at least one grasping element is at a second angle relative to the anchor, wherein the first angle is greater than the second angle, and wherein grasping the tissue comprises rotating the at least one grasping element relative to the anchor from the second configuration to the third configuration.

25. The method of claim 1 , further comprising positioning the at least one grasping element substantially parallel to the anchor in the delivery configuration and extending the at least one grasping element distally from the proximal end of the anchor in the delivery configuration.