Distally narrowed vascular grafts and methods of using same for making artery-to-vein and artery-to-artery connections

摘要

The invention provides vascular grafts and methods for implanting the same. In one aspect of the invention, there are provided vascular grafts that have a stepped down distal end. In another aspect, the invention provides vascular grafts having cuffs for attachment to a target blood vessel. In yet another aspect, the invention provides connectors for making end-to-end graft connections. The invention also provides methods for implanting vascular grafts that include inserting the distal end of a graft into the target blood vessel for positioning downstream of the incision site and methods that include shortening a graft by removing a medial portion of the graft and connecting the resulting graft pieces in an end-to-end manner.