Intraluminal tissue welding for anastomosis

A method for intraluminal tissue welding in the anastomosis of a hollow organ, comprising:

• providing a retractable catheter assembly including a catheter with at least one inflatable balloon and an optical fiber connected to the catheter;
• positioning the catheter assembly in a hollow organ adjacent to sections of the hollow organ to be joined;
• positioning at least one balloon between the sections to be joined and inflating the balloon, thereby holding the sections together on the inflated balloon;
• and
• forming a continuous hollow organ using a light-absorbing material applied to the sections that are to be joined together by applying laser radiation through the optical fiber to the light absorbing material, wherein the laser radiation has a pulse length that is within a factor of two of the time for laser energy to diffuse across a region over which the laser energy is deposited.

A method for intraluminal tissue welding for anastomosis of a hollow organ, comprising:

• providing a retractable catheter assembly including a catheter with at least two inflatable balloons and an optical fiber connected to the catheter, and at least two deployable biocompatible patches mounted on the balloons;
• positioning the catheter assembly in a hollow organ adjacent to severed free ends of the hollow organ;
• positioning a graft between the free ends;
• positioning the balloons between the free ends and the graft and inflating the balloons, thereby holding the free ends and the graft together on the inflated balloons and deploying the patches against the inner walls of the hollow organ and the graft where the ends join;
• and
• forming a continuous passageway through the hollow organ by bonding the patches to the hollow organ and the graft by delivering laser radiation through the optical fiber to the patches, wherein the laser radiation has a pulse length that is within a factor of two of the time for laser energy to diffuse across a region over which the laser energy is deposited.