Surgical clips and methods for tissue approximation

A surgical clip for sealingly joining a graft vessel to a target vessel, the graft vessel having a graft vessel wall defining a graft lumen, the target vessel having a target vessel wall defining a target lumen, the surgical clip comprising:

• a clip body;
• a needle portion extending from the clip body and having a distal end configured to penetrate the graft and target vessel walls and extend outside of the graft and target vessels, the clip body being configured to prevent passage of the clip body through the graft and target vessel walls;
• and
• a retainer disposed outside of the graft and target vessels for retaining the graft and target vessel walls on the needle portion, wherein the retainer comprises a leg attached to the clip body movable between an open position spaced apart from the needle portion and a closed position closer to the needle portion for retaining the graft and target vessel walls thereon, wherein an end portion of the retainer is configured to extend across the needle portion in the closed position.

A surgical clip for sealingly joining a graft vessel to a target vessel, the graft vessel having a graft vessel wall defining a graft lumen, the target vessel having a target vessel wall defining a target lumen, the surgical clip comprising:

• a clip body;
• a needle portion extending from the clip body and having a distal end configured to penetrate the graft and target vessel walls and extend outside of the graft and target vessels, the clip body being configured to prevent passage of the clip body through the graft and target vessel walls;
• and
• a retainer disposed outside of the graft and target vessels for retaining the graft and target vessel walls on the needle portion, wherein the retainer comprises a leg attached to the clip body movable between an open position spaced apart from the needle portion and a closed position closer to the needle portion for retaining the graft and target vessel walls thereon, wherein the retainer shields the distal end of the needle portion in the closed position.

A surgical clip for sealingly joining a graft vessel to a target vessel, the graft vessel having a graft vessel wall defining a graft lumen, the target vessel having a target vessel wall defining a target lumen, the surgical clip comprising:

• a clip body including a middle portion configured to be held by a clip applier for applying the clip, wherein the middle portion has an aperture therein for receiving a portion of the clip applier;
• a needle portion extending from the clip body and having a distal end configured to penetrate the graft and target vessel walls and extend outside of the graft and target vessels, the clip body being configured to prevent passage of the clip body through the graft and target vessel walls;
• and
• a retainer disposed outside of the graft and target vessels for retaining the graft and target vessel walls on the needle portion.

A surgical clip for sealingly joining a graft vessel to a target vessel, the graft vessel having a graft vessel wall defining a graft lumen, the target vessel having a target vessel wall defining a target lumen, the surgical clip comprising:

• a clip body including a coupling for attachment to a flexible band;
• a needle portion extending from the clip body and having a distal end configured to penetrate the graft and target vessel walls and extend outside of the graft and target vessels, the clip body being configured to prevent passage of the clip body through the graft and target vessel walls;
• and
• a retainer disposed outside of the graft and target vessels for retaining the graft and target vessel walls on the needle portion.

A method of sealingly joining a graft vessel to a target vessel, the graft vessel having a free end and a graft vessel wall defining a graft lumen, the target vessel having a target vessel wall defining a target lumen and having an opening therein, the method comprising:

• providing a plurality of anastomosis clips each including a clip body having a distal extremity with a distal end and a proximal extremity with a proximal end;
• penetrating the graft vessel wall and the target vessel wall with the distal extremity of each anastomosis clip such that the distal and proximal ends are disposed outside of the graft and target vessels;
• and
• shaping a portion of each clip body outside of the graft and target vessels so as to compress the graft vessel wall against the target vessel wall with the graft lumen in communication with the target lumen.