Vascular grafts with multiple channels and methods for making

摘要

A wall, for example the wall of a vascular graft, has multiple channels within it. The channels may be used to hold drugs or reinforcing fibers. The channels may have a predetermined roughness. The channels may be formed by coextrusion using a soluble material, for example, to define the channels and then dissolving them to open the channels in the extrudate.

主权项

1. A method of forming a medical device, comprising:
co-extruding a first material and a second material into a cylinder of the first and second materials, such that, after extrusion, the second material defines at least one elongate structure extending generally along a length of the medical device surrounded by the matrix of the first material; and prior to implantation of the medical device within a patient removing the second material from the first material to leave a void in the first material; twisting the cylinder such that the voids left in the first material, after removal of the second material, are formed into helices; inserting a reinforcement filament into the voids left in the first material; and forming the medical device into a vascular graft.