Method for installing a stent graft

A method for installing a contralateral limb to a stent graft positioned in an abdominal artery to treat an aneurysm, said stent graft having an elongate leg and a truncate leg, comprising the steps of:

• inserting a first guide wire through an incision endoluminally into a first common femoral artery and pushing said first guide wire into said abdominal artery until a leading end of said first guide wire extends beyond a leading end of said stent graft;
• introducing a first sheath into said elongate leg of said stent graft, using said first guide wire to guide said first sheath into said elongate leg, said elongate leg having a trailing end received within said first common iliac artery;
• removing said first guide wire from said sheath;
• providing a first catheter having a return bend formed near a distal end thereof and having a first magnet means mounted to said distal end;
• introducing said first catheter into a lumen of said first sheath and pushing said first catheter until said return bend emerges from said lumen of said first sheath;
• displacing said first catheter in a distal-to-proximal direction until said first magnet means emerges from said hollow interior of said stent graft and into the interior of said aneurysm;
• providing a second sheath having a second magnet means on a distal free end thereof, said second magnet means having a polarity opposite to a polarity of said first magnet means;
• introducing said second sheath into a second, opposite common femoral artery and positioning its distal free end near said first magnet means so that said first and second magnet means are attracted to one another and enter into magnetically coupled relation to one another;
• pulling said second sheath into the hollow interior of said stent graft;
• removing said first catheter;
• introducing a contralateral limb through said second sheath until the distal free end of said contralateral limb has extended from said second sheath and entered into the hollow interior of said stent graft;
• said contralateral limb deploying under its inherent bias so that it expands in diameter;
• and
• withdrawing said second sheath;
• whereby blood flows into a first end of said stent graft and out the bifurcated lower end thereof into left and right iliac arteries.

A method for removing a nephroureteral stent from a kidney, comprising the steps of:

• mounting a first magnet means to a first end of a nephroureteral stent that extends from a bladder to a kidney through a ureter;
• mounting a second magnet means on the distal free end of a catheter, said second magnet means having a polarity opposite to a polarity of said first magnet means;
• introducing said distal free end of said catheter into said bladder through an urethra;
• bringing said second magnet means into close proximity with said first magnet means so that said first and second magnet means enter into a magnetic coupling with one another;
• withdrawing said catheter through said urethra, thereby pulling said first magnet means and hence said nephroureteral stent with it.