Vascular prosthesis suitable for use as a surgical graft is produced by implanting a rod or tube in a living host animal such as a sheep and allowing collagenous tissue to grow on the implant to form a coherent tubular wall of collagenous tissue. The implant is subsequently removed and the tubular wall of collagenous tissue is stripped from the rod or tube and tanned in glutaraldehyde to serve as a vascular prosthesis.

A vascular prosthesis for implantation in a living mammalian body and a method for producing same are disclosed. The vascular prosthesis has a hydrophobic polymeric layer on its luminal surface defining a substantially non-thrombogenic flow surface. The polymeric material of the layer defining the flow surface exhibits a rate of platelet consumption of less than about 20.times.10.sup.8 platelets/cm.sup.2 .multidot.day.

A vascular prosthesis intended principally for use as an intraluminal graft has a flexible tubular main body, a cushioning tube of a flexible, compressible, and suturable Dacron felt secured coaxially to each end of the main body, and two reinforcing rings of stainless steel secured coaxially to opposite ends of each cushioning tube in substantially imbedded state therein, the cushioning tubes at parts thereof between the rings being radially compressible upon being clamped by ligating means, wh...

A vascular clamp for use in surgery has a body in the form of a tapering flexible envelope, with an inlet tube at the broader end. An external strip at the broader end provides a slot through which the tail of the envelope can be threaded after passing it around the vessel. The envelope is then inflated, e.g. by a syringe, to compress the vessel. A tap closes the inlet tube after inflation, and can be operated to partially deflate the envelope and so check for leaks of blood. The disclosure also...

Vascular graft of synthetic material including a tubular member having a braided inner layer and a compliant outer covering layer where the braided layer includes a plurality of interwoven groups of filaments. The filaments can be constructed either of metal or of plastic. The compliant outer covering can be either a sleeve of processed biologic material such as collagen, processed plastic, liquid deposition of biologic material or plastic, or a combination of biologic and plastic materials. The...

An improved balloon-tipped catheter includes means for convectively heating the inflation medium within the balloon during dilation. In the preferred embodiment, the convective heat is provided by a radiant heating block which is attached to a laser light source through an optical waveguide extending the length of the catheter. The convectively heated balloon promotes restoration and healing of the arterial wall in the region of stenosis, which region normally suffers from cracking, tearing, and...

A vascular catheter for cannulating arterial or venous vessels, for example in the fermoral region, or the vena cava and/or the right auricle of the heart, comprises a flexible tube having blood passage orifices in the nature of holes at its anterior and insertion end to be inserted in the vessel or the auricle, which tube is directly or indirectly connectable at its other open end to a conduit or appliance. A piston-like closure member is movable to and fro in the tube in lengthwise direction t...

A method of producing a vascular graft comprises impregnating a tube of flexible porous material with gelatinous material which contains a gelatin with has been treated to cause it to contain a predetermined number of amino groups less than that normally present in untreated gelatin then treating the impregnated tube to cause the amino groups to form cross links with one another. The gelatin may be treated by reacting it with the anhydride or the chloride of a polycarboxylic acid.

A one-piece vascular clip which includes a central helical spring section, first connecting sections joined by the spring section, second connecting sections extending from the first connecting sections to cross. First jaw sections extend from the second connecting sections. A return bend jaw section extends from each of the first jaw sections parallel and adjacent to the associated first jaw section. A horn extends outwardly from each of the return bend jaw sections.

A vascular prosthesis is produced by subjecting a length of animal ureter to glutaraldehyde tanning. The lumen of the ureter is dilated and the ureter is set in the dilated configuration by the tanning process. The ureter may be strengthened by a surrounding sheath of polyester mesh. Ureters for use in the invention can be obtained from a wide range of animal species, but preferably from cattle and sheep. Prostheses can be produced in accordance with the invention for a wide range of revasculari...