A prosthetic heart valve having an anchoring sleeve that changes shape
when the valve is implanted and contacts the surrounding annulus to
prevent migration of the valve. The heart valve may be non-expandable and
the anchoring sleeve may provide the primary anchoring structure of the
valve. Alternatively, the valve may be expandable wherein the anchoring
sleeve supplements the inherent anchoring capacity of the valve
structure. The anchoring sleeve is at least partly made of a material
that increases in size, i.e., swells, due to absorption of body fluids.
For instance, the anchoring sleeve may be formed of an inner material
that swells upon contact with body fluids enclosed by a cover. The
anchoring sleeve desirably changes shape to provide spaced apart annular
flanges for securing the valve around a fibrous annulus. An anchoring
sleeve for a prosthetic heart valve having an expandable frame surrounds
a majority of the frame and may define an external hourglass
configuration.