Woven stent/graft structure

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention, which addresses the needs of the prior art, provides a combined stent/graft structure for repair of a body tube in a living body.
The structure includes a textile graft adapted to enhance fluid integrity of the body tube.
The graft is a generally tubular graft main portion with a graft main portion axis and first and second graft main portion ends, and is formed, at least in part, by at least one graft yarn.
The device also includes a stent which is expandable between a first position permitting easy insertion of the stent into the body tube and a second position wherein the stent presses securely against the inside surface of the body tube.
The stent includes at least a first elongate wire-shaped stent member which has a stent member global axis and a stent member local axis.
The first stent member is integrally secured to the graft by the at least one graft yarn of which the graft is formed.
Substantial portions of the first stent member global axis form a non-orthogonal angle with the graft main portion axis when projected into a plane containing the graft main portion axis.
Thus, if desired, the stent can be manufactured so as to extend over a substantial portion of the length of the graft.
The first stent member has material properties which are preselected to support the graft when it is in the second, or expanded, position.
The local axis of the first stent member is generally defined by centroids of the adjacent cross-sections of the first stent member.
The global axis is generally defined by a straight-line curve fit to the local axis in a coordinate system which is substantially coincident with the generally tubular graft main portion.
Multiple stent members having different properties can be employed.
In another aspect of the invention, a generally undulating stent member need not necessarily have its global axis non-orthogonal to the graft main portion axis.
In this case, the textile graft is woven and the first stent member is secured by at least one warp yarn at each of a plurality of interweave points spaced circumferentially about the graft