Apparatus and methods for grafting blood vessel tissue
First Claim
1. Apparatus comprising:
- an endovascular stent; and
a vascular graft comprising a first partial thickness section of a full thickness of blood vessel tissue, the blood vessel tissue having an intimal layer, a medial layer and an adventitial layer, wherein said first partial thickness section comprises at least a portion of the intimal layer wherein at least a portion of the adventitial layer has been removed and a second partial thickness section includes at least a portion of the adventitial layer, said vascular graft positioned against said endovascular stent.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus and methods especially useful for facilitating grafting of healthy blood vessel tissue onto the internal wall of a blood vessel are described. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a vascular graft secured to an expandable, wire mesh endovascular stent. The vascular graft is a partial thickness section taken through the thickness of the graft donor tissue and includes the intimal layer composed of endothelial cells. The partial thickness section facilitates regeneration of an endothelial cell layer. The vascular graft may be an autograft or homograft, and may have been prepared earlier and cryogenically frozen. The combination of stent and vascular graft is inserted into a blood vessel having damage to an internal wall. The stent is expanded in position at the site of damage, and the vascular graft grafts onto the damaged internal wall of the blood vessel while being supported by the stent. The stent also provides structural support for the blood vessel wall. The stent may be expanded with a balloon catheter inserted through the lumen of the stent. Alternate embodiments employ a variety of expandable and self-expanding endovascular stents.
-
Citations
26 Claims
-
1. Apparatus comprising:
-
an endovascular stent; and a vascular graft comprising a first partial thickness section of a full thickness of blood vessel tissue, the blood vessel tissue having an intimal layer, a medial layer and an adventitial layer, wherein said first partial thickness section comprises at least a portion of the intimal layer wherein at least a portion of the adventitial layer has been removed and a second partial thickness section includes at least a portion of the adventitial layer, said vascular graft positioned against said endovascular stent. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A method comprising the steps of:
-
obtaining a tubular section of blood vessel; making a longitudinal cut through a wall of the tubular section forming a sheet of full thickness blood vessel tissue having an intimal layer, a medial layer and an adventitial layer; forming a first partial thickness section and a second partial thickness section, wherein the first partial thickness section comprises at least a portion of the intimal layer, the first partial thickness section forming a vascular graft wherein at least a portion of the adventitial layer has been removed; positioning the vascular graft against an expandable endovascular stent; and securing the vascular graft to the endovascular stent. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
Specification