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:
Feb. 11, 2003
Filed:
Jul. 21, 1997
Lilip Lau, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Charles Maroney, Portola Valley, CA (US);
Gore Enterprise Holdings, Inc., Newark, DE (US);
Abstract
This is a medical device and a method of using it. The device is a foldable stent-graft which may be percutaneously delivered with (or on) an endovascular catheter, via surgical techniques or using other suitable techniques and then expanded. The stent-graft uses a kink-resistant stent structure and an interior graft which is attached to the stent in such a way that the graft does not kink and yet the stent is able to conform to curves in the blood vessel lumen. The expandable stent structure preferably has a helically deployed torsional member with an undulating shape which is wound to form the generally cylindrical shape deployed as the stent. The helical winding desirably is aligned to allow undulations in adjacent turns of the helix to be in phase. The adjacent undulating shapes are held in that phased relationship using a flexible linkage, typically made of a polymeric material. The graft component cooperating with the stent is tubular and mounted on the interior of the stent. Although it may be made of any variety of materials, it preferably is an expanded polyfluorocarbon. The graft component may be bound to the flexible linkage which holds the stent windings in phase (or the stent structure itself) at a number of sliding attachment points.