EXTERNAL STEERABLE FIBER FOR USE IN ENDOLUMINAL DEPLOYMENT OF EXPANDABLE DEVICES

• US 20140188210A1
• Filed: 11/19/2013
• Published: 07/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: W. L. Gore & Associates (W.L. Gore & Associates)
• Original Assignee: W. L. Gore & Associates (W.L. Gore & Associates)
• Inventors: Sondreaal, Matthew G., Beard, Matthew S., Sector, Martin J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,877,858 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 623/1.12
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/07 Stent-grafts
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/954 for placing stents or stent-grafts in a bifurcation
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/97 the outer sleeve being splittable
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/9511 the retaining means being filaments or wires
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/9665 with additional retaining means
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2250/001 for adjusting a diameter
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2250/0063 Nested prosthetic parts

Abstract

The present disclosure describes treatment of the vasculature of a patient with an expandable implant. The implant is constrained to a reduced delivery diameter for delivery within the vasculature by at least one sleeve. The implant can be constrained to other diameters, such as an intermediate diameter. The sleeves can be expanded, allowing for expansion of the diameter of the expandable implant, by disengaging a coupling member from the sleeve or sleeves from outside of the body of the patient. The expandable implant can comprise a steering line or lines which facilitate bending and steering of the expandable implant through the vasculature of a patient.

Claims

1. A catheter assembly comprising:

a leading end;

a trailing end;

an expandable device positioned at the leading end, the expandable device having a proximal end and a distal end, the expandable device having a collapsed configuration for endoluminal delivery of the expandable device to a treatment site in a body of a patient, and an expanded configuration having a diameter larger than the diameter of the collapsed configuration;

a constraining mechanism extending around the expandable device to releasably constrain the expandable device toward the collapsed configuration;

a flexible film sleeve wrapped circumferentially around the expandable device;

a coupling member cooperating with a plurality of openings in the sleeve for releasably coupling portions of the sleeve to one another to limit expansion of at least a portion of the expandable device after removal of the constraining mechanism, the sleeve limiting expansion of the expandable device toward an intermediate configuration larger than the collapsed configuration and smaller than the expanded configuration; and

a steering line operatively coupled to the sleeve to allow axial bending of the at least a portion of the expandable device while in the intermediate configuration in response to selective displacement of the steering line relative to the catheter.

2. The catheter assembly of claim 1, wherein the constraining mechanism comprises an axially displaceable sheath removable from the body of the patient.

3. The catheter assembly of claim 2, wherein the sheath is less flexible than the sleeve.

4. The catheter assembly of claim 3, wherein the sleeve remains with the expandable device in the body of the patient.

5. The catheter assembly of claim 1, wherein the steering line is engaged with the coupling member to translate axial displacement of the steering line to corresponding bending of the at least a portion of the expandable device in the intermediate configuration.

6. The catheter assembly of claim 5, wherein the steering line is a wire.

7. The catheter assembly of claim 6, wherein the wire includes a loop for receiving the coupling member therethrough.

8. The catheter assembly of claim 7, wherein the coupling member forms stitches engaged through the plurality of openings of the sleeve, wherein one or more of the stitches extends through the loop.

9. The catheter assembly of claim 8, wherein the coupling member is selected from the group consisting of fiber, woven fiber, string, cord, thread, or wire.

10. The catheter assembly of claim 6 including a rigid conduit receiving the steering line therethrough, the conduit being removable with the steering line from the body of the patient.

11. The catheter assembly of claim 1, wherein the expandable device substantially maintains a desired degree of bending while the expandable device is deployed to the expanded configuration.

12. The catheter assembly of claim 1, wherein the steering line is connected to the sleeve near one of the proximal end and the distal end of the expandable device.

13. The catheter assembly of claim 1, wherein the expandable device comprises a stent graft.

14. The catheter assembly of claim 13, wherein the expandable device is self-expanding.

15. The catheter assembly of claim 1, wherein the expandable device comprises a bifurcated stent graft having a trunk defining a trunk lumen and two legs extending from an end of the trunk and each defining a branch lumen in fluid communication with the trunk lumen.

16. The catheter assembly of claim 15, wherein the at least a portion of the expandable device the is bendable by actuation of the steering line while maintained in the intermediate configuration is the trunk of the bifurcated stent graft.

17. The catheter assembly of claim 1, wherein the constraining mechanism comprises a second flexible film sleeve extending around the expandable device to releasably constrain the expandable device toward the collapsed configuration.

18. The catheter assembly of claim 17, wherein the second flexible film sleeve is axially displaceable to release the expandable device for both expansion from the collapsed configuration and subsequent removal from the body of the patient.

19. The catheter assembly of claim 18, wherein the second flexible film sleeve is releasably held in the collapsed configuration by a second coupling member.