Internal prosthesis for the substitution of a part of the human body particularly in vascular surgery, which has a body (2) with a substantially tubular configuration made of plastic material tolerated by the human body and suitable for being associated by its free ends through a suture, to the ends of one or more arteries: advantageously the body defining prosthesis is radiopaque (4) so that it can be easily detected by means of an X-ray apparatus.

A thinly woven textile prosthetic implant such as a vascular graft may be implanted by catheter implantation. The implant includes an elongate tubular body formed of a woven fabric having a fabric thickness no greater than about 0.16 mm. The tubular body includes a series of longitudinally spaced wave-like generally uniform crimps along the length thereof. The crimps are disposed at a fine pitch along the length of the tubular body. The amplitude of the crimps is relatively small thus reducing the formation of thrombus and plaque on the inside of the implant.

This invention relates to a graft for placement in a body passageway. The graft comprises a longitudinally extending thin walled cylinder having first and second open ends. The graft is divided into first and second axially extending end portions adjacent such open ends and an axially extending central portion therebetween. The walls of the central portion are provided with circumferential crimps and the wall of the end portions are provided with axially extending crimps whereby the central portion can be extended longitudinally to vary the distance between the end portions and the end portions may be expanded radially to vary the diameter of the end portions. In preferred embodiment the end portions have a greater diameter than the central portion imparting to the graft a somewhat dumbbell like shape preferable in employing the graft in the reduced diameter lumen of a diseased blood vessel.

A graft repair system for use in the repair of an aneurysm within a vessel is disclosed. The graft repair system includes a graft assembly and a support assembly for supporting the graft assembly within the vessel. The graft assembly may include a tubular portion having proximal and distal ends. The graft assembly may be bifurcated. The graft assembly may further comprise a distal graft assembly. The support assembly includes at least one attachment assembly for attaching the graft assembly to a vessel wall. The support assembly further includes a connecting assembly for connecting the attachment assembly to the proximal end of the graft assembly, such that the attachment assembly extends cephalad from the proximal end of the graft assembly. The support device further includes a securing assembly for securing the connecting assembly to the proximal end of the graft assembly.

A bifurcated or straight intravascular folded tubular member is deliverable percutaneously or by small cutdown to the site of a vascular lesion. Its inserted state has a smaller nondeployed diameter and a shorter nondeployed length. The intravascular tubular member has a folded tubular section that is unfolded following insertion into the blood vessel. The length of the intravascular folded tubular member is sized in situ to the length of the vessel lesion without error associated with diagnostic estimation of lesion length. The folded tubular member is self-expandable or balloon-expandable to a larger deployed diameter following delivery to the lesion site. An attachment anchor can be positioned at the inlet or outlet ends of the intravascular folded tubular member to prevent leakage between the tubular member and the native vessel lumen and to prevent migration of the tubular member. The attachment anchor has a short axial length to provide a more focal line of attachment to the vessel wall. Such attachment is valuable in attaching to a short aortic neck in the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm. The attachment anchor can have barbs which are held in a protected conformation during insertion of the tubular member and are released upon deployment of the attachment anchor. The intravascular tubular member can be formed of woven multifilament polymeric strands with metallic strands interwoven along with them. Double weaving is incorporated to prevent leakage at crossover points.