Medical graft connector

A connector for use in connecting an end of a tubular graft conduit to a side wall of a patient's existing tubular body conduit via an aperture in the side wall thereof, comprising:

• a body portion configured to surround a portion of the graft conduit;
• and
• a plurality of fingers configured to engage an interior surface of the side wall of the existing conduit, wherein one of the plurality of fingers has an end portion configured to pierce the graft conduit, and
• wherein the connector is radially enlargeable in use between a first size and a second size.

A connector for use in making an artificial, fluid-tight, hollow, annular connection between an end portion of a tubular graft conduit and a side wall of a tubular body conduit in a patient via an artificially created aperture in the side wall of the tubular body conduit so that the tubular graft conduit extends from the tubular body conduit outside of the tubular body conduit and the patient's body fluid can flow between lumens of the tubular graft conduit and the tubular body conduit via the connection, the connector comprising:

• a structure which is annularly continuous and configured for disposition annularly around the outside of the tubular graft conduit;
• a plurality of first members extending from the structure in an annular array which is substantially concentric with the structure, the first members being resiliently biased to extend substantially radially out from the structure and being elastically deflectable substantially parallel to a central longitudinal axis of the structure;
• and
• a plurality of second members extending from the structure in an annular array which is substantially concentric with the structure, the second members being resiliently biased to extend substantially radially out from the structure and being elastically deflectable substantially parallel to the central longitudinal axis of the structure, the first members being configured to pass through the side wall of the tubular graft conduit at respective locations that are spaced from one another around the side wall of the tubular graft conduit, and the first and second members being further configured to reach respective locations on the side wall of the tubular body conduit that are spaced annularly around the aperture when the connector is in use and the first and second members are extending substantially radially out from the structure.

A method for using a connector to connect an end of a tubular graft conduit to a sidewall of a patient's existing tubular body conduit via an aperture in the sidewall thereof so that the patient's body fluid can flow between lumens of the graft conduit and the body conduit, comprising:

• positioning the connector annularly around the outside of the graft conduit, wherein the connector comprises a first plurality of fingers in an annular array that are resiliently biased to extend substantially radially outward from the graft conduit in a first position;
• deflecting the first plurality of fingers into a second deflected position whereby they are pointed toward the end of the graft conduit substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the graft conduit;
• causing the first plurality of fingers to pierce the graft conduit from outside the graft conduit adjacent the end;
• introducing the connector into the aperture with the first plurality of fingers in the second deflected position so that the first plurality of fingers and the end of the graft conduit are inside the lumen of the body conduit;
• and
• allowing the first plurality fingers to assume the first position so that the first plurality of fingers evert the end of the graft conduit inside the lumen of the body conduit, engage the inside of the sidewall of the body conduit adjacent the everted end, and resist removal of the everted end from the aperture.