W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.

Gore Enterprise Holdings, Inc.

David J. Myers

James D. Lewis

Wayne D. House

Karl E. Schwarz

Edward H. Cully

Michael J. Vonesh

Daniel B. Pond

Jeffrey B. Duncan

Keith M. Flury

Vrad W. Levering

Paul D. Goodman

Jason M. Wiersdorf

Philip P. Off

Wayne D House

David J Myers

James D Lewis

Edward H Cully

Karl E Schwarz

Michael J Vonesh

Jeffrey B Duncan

Paul D Goodman

Keith M Flury

Jason M Wiersdorf

Philip P Off

Daniel M O'Shea

Vrad W Levering

Daniel M O'shea

Stanislaw L Zukowski

Daniel B Pond

Kenneth W Moll

A self-expanding stent-graft provided in a diametrically compacted state for implantation and retained preferably by a constraining sheath, useful for the temporary or permanent repair of injured, partially or entirely transected body conduits including blood vessels. It may be used under direct visualization to quickly stop or substantially reduce loss of blood from such damaged vessels and to quickly re-establish perfusion distal to the injury site. The device would typically be implanted under emergency room conditions but also be used in field situations by trained medical technicians. After an end of the device is inserted into a blood vessel through the injury access, deployment preferably initiates from the device end in a direction moving toward the middle of the length of the device by directionally releasing the constraining sheath. In a preferred embodiment, the two opposing ends of the device are individually deployable from the compacted, small diameter intended for insertion into a vessel, to the larger diameter at which they fit interferably into a portion of the vessel.

Device for rapid repair of body conduits

A prosthetic implantable device that offers a reduction in fluid loss when the device is punctured, such as by a dialysis needle or suture needle, and the needle is subsequently removed. The device may be made to be thin and flexible, and with longitudinal stretch, in order that it also offers good handling and kink resistance to a surgeon. While the device is preferably of tubular form, flat sheets or other forms may also be made. The device includes inner and outer layers of a porous material having a microstructure of nodes interconnected by bent fibrils, and having void spaces between adjacent bent fibrils. The inner and outer layers are joined by an elastomeric adhesive that may interpenetrate the void spaces of the adjacent surfaces of the inner and outer layers, that is, the inner surface of the outer layer and the outer surface of the inner layer.

Method of making implantable devices with reduced needle puncture site leakage

A method of making an tubular intraluminal graft in the form of a tubular diametrically adjustable stent having a tubular covering of porous expanded PTFE which is less than 0.10 mm thick. The covering may be on the exterior surface of the stent, or on the interior surface of the stent, or both. The covering may be affixed to the stent by an adhesive which is preferably fluorinated ethylene propylene.

Intraluminal stent graft

A method of making a tubular intraluminal graft in the form of a tubular diametrically adjustable stent having a tubular covering of porous expanded polytetrafluoroethylene which is less than 0.10 mm thick. The covering may be on the exterior surface of the stent, or on the interior surface of the stent, or both. The covering may be affixed to the stent by an adhesive which is preferably fluorinated ethylene propylene.

A method of making a tubular intraluminal graft in the form of a tubular diametrically adjustable stent having a tubular covering of porous expanded PTFE which is less than 0.10 mm thick. The covering may be on the exterior surface of the stent, or on the interior surface of the stent, or both. The covering may be affixed to the stent by an adhesive which is preferably fluorinated ethylene propylene.

A method of making an tubular intraluminal graft in the form of a tubular diametrically adjustable stent having a tubular covering of porous expanded polytetrafluoroethylene which is less than 0.10 mm thick. The covering may be on the exterior surface of the stent, or on the interior surface of the stent, or both. The covering may be affixed to the stent by an adhesive which is preferably fluorinated ethylene propylene.

A prosthetic implantable device that offers a reduction in fluid loss when the device is punctured, such as by a dialysis needle or suture needle, and the needle is subsequently removed. The device may be made to be thin and flexible, and with longitudinal stretch, in order that it also offers good handling and kink resistance to a surgeon. While the device is preferably of tubular form, flat sheets or other forms may also be made. The device includes inner and outer layers of a porous material having a microstructure of nodes interconnected by bent fibrils, and having void spaces between adjacent bent fibrils. The inner and outer layers are joined by an elastomeric adhesive that may interpenetrate the void spaces of the adjacent surfaces of the inner and outer layers, that is, the inner surface of the outer layer and the outer surface of the inner layer. Optionally, a middle layer of an elastomeric material may also be provided, joined to the inner and outer porous layers by the interpenetrating elastomeric adhesive. The device is preferably a vascular graft and more preferably a vascular graft for kidney dialysis.

Implantable devices with reduced needle puncture site leakage

A method of making a seamless, thinwall tube of porous polytetrafluoroethylene. The method involves the use of corresponding male and female dies to deform a precursor sheet of porous PTFE which has been restrained about its perimeter. Preferably the porous PTFE sheet is heated to a temperature of less than the crystalline melt temperature during the tube-forming process. The precursor material is preferably a sheet of porous expanded PTFE and more preferably a multiaxially expanded sheet. This precursor material may optionally have been previously exposed to heat above the melt temperature of PTFE. The inventive tube is as thin or thinner than the precursor sheet.

Process for forming a seamless tube of expanded PTFE from a sheet of

A tubular intraluminal graft in the form of a tubular diametrically adjustable stent having a tubular covering of porous expanded polytetrafluoroethylene which is less than 0.10 mm thick. The covering may be on the exterior surface of the stent, or on the interior surface of the stent, or both. The covering may be affixed to the stent by an adhesive which is preferably fluorinated ethylene propylene.

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Flagstaff, AZ, United States of America

Wayne D House