Prosthesis (i.e. – artificial body members) – parts thereof – or ai – Arterial prosthesis – Stent structure
Patent
1997-06-27
1999-03-09
Isabella, David J.
Prosthesis (i.e., artificial body members), parts thereof, or ai
Arterial prosthesis
Stent structure
128898, A61F 206
Patent
active
058793801
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to an assembly for the treating of blood vessels and more specifically to an assembly for the replacing of and/or covering up of damaged, blood vessel inner layers and to a method therefor.
An often occurring medical problem is the silting up of blood vessels with for instance calcium, so-called arteriosclerosis. Because of this, a blockage of the blood vessel occurs, so-called stenosis.
Stenosis of blood vessels which leads to a narrowing and, in some cases, complete blocking of the blood vessel can lead to dangerous consequences for the patient. Circulatory problems and a deteriation in health can ensue. Advanced stenosis, if not operated upon, can cause wastage and death of body tissue, necessitating, in certain instances, in amputation.
A known procedure for unblocking blood vessels, `End artery ectomy`, is to separate the inner layer of the blood vessel, the so called tunica-intima, from the blood vessel wall, to cut through and sever the tunica-intima over the blocked length of the bloodvessel and then to remove the tunica-intima plus blockage from the body. A new tunica-intima then grows back to replace this removed tunica-intima.
A problem here is that this new tunica-intima, the so called neo-tunica-intima has the tendency to undergo restenosis, i.e. to silt up again, at a quicker rate than the original tunica-intima.
Another problem is that the original tunica-intima is usually separated from the blood vessel wall upto a distance just past where it is to be severed. Hence on removal of the original tunica-intima, a small piece of this is left hanging loosely in the blood stream, a factor which can cause and hasten the restenosis of the blood vessel.
A blood vessel which is particularly susceptible to stenosis is the artery between the groin and the knee.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate at least one of these problems. To this end there is provided, according to a first aspect of the present invention, a blood vessel treating assembly comprising: or the like for replacing a section of blood vessel inner layer previously removed from the blood vessel and/or for covering a predetermined length of damaged blood vessel inner layer, wherein said artificial blood vessel inner layer is associated with the existing blood vessel in such a way as to substantially withhold any loose parts of the blood vessel from obstructing the stream of blood through said blood vessel, and into the blood vessel.
In this way an artificial new tunica-intima to replace the old tunica-intima over the removed length thereof and which prevents the re-growing of a natural `neo-tunica-intima`, can be introduced into a blood vessel, to just past the piece of loose hanging original tunica-intima left after removal of a section of the original tunica-intima for instance, this artificial new tunica-intima made of such material as to cause a minimum of restenosis of the blood vessel to occur and which pushes the old loose hanging piece of left behind tunica-intima back against the blood vessel wall where it re-grows onto the blood vessel wall and thus no longer flaps about in the blood stream.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided an artificial blood vessel inner layer, such as an artificial tunica-intima or the like, made of any suitable synthetic material and comprising diameter arranging means for increasing and/or decreasing the diameter of the tube-like section, preferably for use with the above mentioned assembly.
According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided introducing means for introducing an artificial blood vessel inner layer, such as an artificial tunica-intima or the like, into a blood vessel, preferably for use with the assembly and/or the artificial blood vessel inner layer as mentioned above.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of replacing a previously removed inner layer of a blood vessel and/or for covering a predetermined length of damaged blood vessel inner layer comprisi
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patent: 5522881 (1996-06-01), Lentz
patent: 5603721 (1997-02-01), Lau et al.
patent: 5662700 (1997-09-01), Lazarus
Kalmann Menno
Moll Franciscus Laurens
Isabella David J.
Medtronic Inc.
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