Expandable intraluminal graft

• US 20060149353A1
• Filed: 12/02/2005
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/1988
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Julio C. Palmaz, Richard A. Schatz
• Original Assignee: Julio C. Palmaz, Richard A. Schatz
• Inventors: Schatz, Richard A., Palmaz, Julio C.
• Application Number:
  US11/293,014
• Publication Number:
  US 20060149353A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 623/1.160
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/07 Stent-grafts
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/91 made from perforated sheet material or tubes, e.g. perforated by laser cuts or etched holes
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/958 Inflatable balloons for placing stents or stent-grafts
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/075 the stent being loosely attached to the graft material, e.g. by stitching
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/826 more than one stent being applied sequentially
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/828 Means for connecting a plurality of stents allowing flexibility of the whole structure
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/91541 Adjacent bands are arranged out of phase
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/91558 connected peak to peak
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2230/0013 Horseshoe-shaped, e.g. crescent-shaped, C-shaped, U-shaped
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2250/0067 Means for introducing or releasing pharmaceutical products into the body

Abstract

A plurality of expandable and deformable intraluminal vascular grafts are expanded within a blood vessel by an angioplasty balloon associated with a catheter to dilate and expand the lumen of a blood vessel. The grafts may be thin-walled tubular members having a plurality of slots disposed substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tubular members, and adjacent grafts are flexibly connected by a single connector member disposed substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tubular members.

Claims

1-6. -6. (canceled)

7. A balloon expandable stent for implantation at a site within a passageway of a coronary artery;

comprising;

a tubular member formed as a unitary structure from a continuous thin-walled tube having a plurality of open areas that define closed perimeter cells;

said tubular member having first and second ends and a wall having an outer wall surface disposed between the first and second ends;

said wall having a coating applied thereto that contains a drug that is released into the coronary artery passageway at the site of implantation;

the tubular member having a first diameter which permits intraluminal delivery of the tubular member into a lumen of a coronary artery to the site of implantation; and

the tubular member having a second, expanded and deformed diameter upon the application from the interior of the tubular member of a radically, outwardly expanding force, by inflating a balloon associated with the tubular member, which second diameter is variable and controlled by the amount of force applied to the tubular member, whereby the tubular member may be expanded and deformed to expand the coronary artery at the site of implantation.

8. The expandable stent of claim 7, wherein the coating is elastic.

9. The expandable stent of claim 7, wherein the coating has a plurality of openings to allow communication between the coronary artery passageway and the interior of the tubular member.

10. The expandable stent of claim 7, wherein the coating comprises a polymer.

11. The expandable stent of claim 10, wherein the polymer is absorbable.

12. The expandable stent of claim 11, wherein the absorbable polymer is selected from a group that consists of polyglycolides, polylactides, and copolymers thereof.

13. The expandable stent of claim 7, wherein the open areas are slots being disposed substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tubular member.

14. The expandable stent of claim 7, wherein the outer wall surface of the tubular member is a substantially smooth surface, when the tubular member has its first diameter.

15. The expandable stent of claim 7, wherein the wall of the tubular member is of a substantially uniform thickness.

16. The expandable stent of claim 7, wherein the tubular member comprises a plurality of tubular segments and is sufficiently flexible so that the stent may be delivered through a curved portion of an access artery to a coronary artery.

17. The expandable stent of claim 16, wherein the tubular segments are elongated.

18. The expandable stent of claim 16, wherein the outer wall surface of the tubular member is a substantially smooth surface, when the tubular member has its first diameter.

19. The expandable stent of claim 16, wherein at least one of the tubular segments may individually function as a structure for maintaining patency of the passageway of a coronary artery.

20. The expandable stent of claim 16, wherein the coating is elastic.

21. The expandable stent of claim 16, wherein the coating has a plurality of openings to allow communication between the coronary artery passageway and the interior of the tubular member.

22. The expandable stent of claim 16, wherein the coating comprises a polymer.

23. The expandable stent of claim 22, wherein the polymer is absorbable.

24. The expandable stent of claim 23, wherein the absorbable polymer is selected from a group that consists of polyglycolides, polylactides, and copolymers thereof.