Elastic stent graft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018177583-A1
Application number	US-201815902567-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 22, 2018
Priority date	Nov 13, 2012
Publication date	Jun 28, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A stent graft including (1) a stent having a wall having at least one opening, an outer surface, and an inner surface and (2) a covering of a composite material having a least one expanded fluoropolymer membrane and an elastomer is provided. The cover can be used to cover the outer and/or the inner surface of the stent. The expanded fluoropolymer membrane contains serpentine fibrils. In exemplary embodiments, the fluoropolymer is polytetrafluoroethylene. The composite material may be axially and/or circumferentially wrapped around the stent. The composite material is fold-free throughout its operating diameter range and exhibits a sharp increase in stiffness at a predetermined diameter. The stent graft can be designed to have a stop point in either a radial or axial direction. The stent graft can advantageously be implanted undersized with respect to a nominal diameter without having material infolding.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of manufacturing a stent graft comprising:
positioning a cover comprising a composite material under tension sufficient to overcome the retraction force of said composite material on at least one surface of a stent at an expanded diameter of said stent to form a stent graft; and bonding said cover to said stent, wherein said composite material comprises at least one expanded fluoropolymer membrane and an elastomer, and wherein said expanded fluoropolymer membrane comprises serpentine fibrils.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each said serpentine fibril has a width of about 1.0 micron or less.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein each said serpentine fibril has a width of about 0.5 micron or less.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said cover is wrinkle-free before loading and after deployment.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said cover is positioned on at least one of an outer surface and an inner surface of said stent.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said at least one expanded fluoropolymer membrane comprises a plurality of pores and said elastomer is present in substantially all of said pores.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying an adhesive to said stent prior to positioning said cover on said at least one surface of said stent.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the expanded fluoropolymer membrane comprises a microstructure of substantially only serpentine fibrils.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluoropolymer membrane comprises polytetrafluoroethylene.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluoropolymer membrane comprises a microstructure of substantially only fibrils.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein when said cover is wrinkle-free when expanded to about 80% of a nominal diameter.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said cover has a diameter substantially larger than said nominal diameter.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said bonding step occurs substantially at room temperature.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said cover in a relaxed state has a diameter substantially smaller than said expanded diameter of said stent.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluoropolymer membrane comprises a plurality of serpentine fibrils.

16 . A method of manufacturing a tubular member comprising:
positioning an expanded fluoropolymer membrane having therein an elastomer under tension sufficient to overcome the retraction force of said fluoropolymer membrane onto a mandrel; bonding said fluoropolymer membrane to itself to form a tubular member; and removing said tubular membrane from said mandrel, wherein said expanded fluoropolymer membrane comprises serpentine fibrils.

Assignees

• Gore & Ass

Inventors

• Cully Edward H
• Duncan Jeffrey B
• Kariniemi Ryan D
• Kariniemi Thomas E
• Kustusch Jeffrey J
• Nelson Jared S

Classifications

• A61L31/048

  obtained by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds (A61L31/041 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61F2002/072

  Encapsulated stents, e.g. wire or whole stent embedded in lining · CPC title

• A61F2/07 Primary

  Stent-grafts · CPC title