Method of making large diameter vascular prosteheses and a vascular prosthesis made by said method
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of making a vascular prosthesis comprising:
- forming a tube of ePTFE, said tube having a first radius;
dilating said tube by repeatedly stretching said tube radially in small increments; and
sintering said dilated tube;
calendering said tube between each said stretching by passing said tube through a press nip.
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Abstract
A method is disclosed for making vascular prostheses from ePTFE said prostheses having a diameter which is larger, and a wall thickness which is smaller than previously achievable using ram extrusion techniques. The method consists of extruding a PTFE tube, finish processing the tube into an ePTFE tube, laterally dilating it by expansion in incremental steps, calendering the tube after each dilating step, while the tube is being maintained at an elevated temperature. Once the tube is dilated it can be sintered with another tube to form a laminate. Alternatively, a wire stent may be joined with one or more tubes, thereby biasing the laminate to a cylindrical configuration.
85 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method of making a vascular prosthesis comprising:
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forming a tube of ePTFE, said tube having a first radius;
dilating said tube by repeatedly stretching said tube radially in small increments; and
sintering said dilated tube;
calendering said tube between each said stretching by passing said tube through a press nip.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of making a vascular prosthesis comprising:
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forming two tubes of ePTFE;
dilating each tube by expanding each tube incrementally several times until a predetermined inner diameter for each tube is achieved;
superimposing one of said tubes over the other so that said tubes are nested;
sintering said tubes to form a laminated tubular member;
calendering said tube between each said expanding by passing said tube through a press nip.- View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification