The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 22, 1994
Filed:
Aug. 18, 1992
Thomas R Winston, Leawood, KS (US);
John M Neet, Shawnee, KS (US);
Ultrasonic Sensing and Monitoring Systems, Inc., Leawood, KS (US);
Abstract
A vascular graft is held in a collapsed state on a pair of stents which take the form of flexible sheets wound around a spool. A sheath is fitted closely around the graft to hold it in its collapsed state and to retain the stents in rolls tightly wound on the spool. After the spool has been inserted into a damaged vessel and advanced to the area of vascular damage, the sheath is withdrawn. The stents then unwind and expand to press the ends of the graft against healthy parts of the vessel on opposite sides of the damaged area. An alternative embodiment of the invention includes a Y-shaped graft for application to a branched part of a vessel. In place of a sheath, control cords with slip knots are used to retain the stents in their contracted conditions while the graft is being positioned in the vessel. The control cords can be pulled to release the slip knots and permit the stents to expand in a manner to secure two branch portions of the graft in the vessel branches and a trunk portion of the graft in the main trunk of the vessel.