Tapered tubular implant formed from woven fabric
AssigneeThe Secant Group, LLC
InventorsSeth Winner, Jack Coy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tubular woven implantable graft having a tapered section is provided. The graft comprises a first diameter and a second diameter and has a generally constant number of warp yarns per inch adjacent both the first diameter and the second diameter. A method for producing an implantable woven graft is also provided. The method includes weaving a first section having a first diameter and a tapered diameter tapering from the first diameter to a second diameter. During weaving of the tapered section a number of warp yarns are dropped from the weave and compressive forces are applied to the fabric to narrow the width of the fabric.
Claims26
A method for forming an implantable textile lumen, comprising the steps of:
- weaving a flat tubular textile having a front face and a rear face, wherein the textile is formed of a plurality of warp yarns comprising base yarns and supplemental warp yarns, and wherein the textile comprises a tapered section in which a width of the textile changes from a first width to a second width, wherein weaving the tapered section comprises the steps of:
- dropping a plurality of the supplemental warp yarns from a weaving pattern in the tapered section by raising or lowering the plurality of supplemental warp yarns and maintaining the plurality of supplemental warp yarns in a raised or lowered position while raising and lowering the base yarns to weave the textile so that the plurality of supplemental warp yarns protrude from the textile across the width of the textile;
- and
- applying compressive force to the width of the textile after the step of dropping a plurality of supplemental warp yarns;
- and
- trimming the dropped plurality of supplemental warp yarns protruding from the textile to form a hollow woven textile lumen having the tapered section integrally woven therewith, wherein the number of warp yarns per inch woven in the tapered section at the first width is similar to the number of warp yarns per inch woven in the tapered section at the second width,
- wherein the weaving is performed using a tapered reed through which the warp yarns pass, the tapered reed tapering from a first width at an upper end to a second width at a lower end, the second width being narrower than the first width.
A method for weaving a tubular implant having a tapered section, comprising the steps of:
- drawing a plurality of warp yarns through a loom to form a sequence of warp yarns having a width, wherein the warp yarns comprise a first set of warp yarns, a second set of warp yarns and a third set of warp yarns wherein the second and third sets of warp yarns are interspersed among the first set of warp yarns across the width of the sequence so that a portion of the second and third sets of warp yarns are positioned adjacent the middle of the sequence of warp yarns;
- passing the first, second and third sets of warp yarns through a reed having a first width;
- weaving weft yarn with the first, second and third sets of warp yarns to create a tubular fabric having a first diameter;
- weaving a first transition section in which the diameter of the tubular fabric changes from the first diameter to a second diameter, wherein the step of weaving the first transition section comprises controlling a position of the first set of warp yarns to simultaneously drop the first set of warp yarns from the weave so that the weft yarns weave with the second and third sets of warp yarns in the first transition section without weaving the first set of warp yarns;
- and
- reducing the width of the reed from the first width to a second width while weaving the first transition section;
- weaving a second transition section in which the diameter of the tubular fabric changes from a second diameter to a third diameter, wherein the step of weaving the second transition comprises the steps of:
- controlling a position of the second set of warp yarns to simultaneously drop the second set of warp yarns from the weave so that the weft yarns weave with the third set of warp yarns in the second transition section;
- and
- reducing the width of the reed from the second width to a third width while weaving the second transition section;
- mounting the tubular fabric onto a forming element;
- and
- heating the tubular fabric to deform the tubular fabric into the shape of the forming element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.