Stent/graft assembly

Abstract

A stent/graft assembly includes a tubular graft connected in substantially end-to-end relationship with a generally tubular stent. Free ends of the stent and graft extend in opposite directions from the end-to-end connection during a pre-deployment orientation of the assembly. However, the graft is inverted during deployment so that free ends of the graft and the stent extend in substantially the same direction from the end-to-end connection in a post-deployment orientation. Thus, at least a portion of the stent is disposed within at least a portion of the graft in a post-deployment orientation of the assembly.

1 . An endovascular stent/graft assembly for repairing a section of a blood vessel that has an aneurysm, said blood vessel having first and second relatively healthy sections adjacent and on opposite ends of said aneurysm, said assembly, prior to insertion in the blood vessel, comprising:
 a substantially tubular stent means for directly contacting said first relatively healthy section of said blood vessel, said stent means having opposite first and second axial ends;   a substantially tubular graft means for directly contacting said first and second relatively healthy sections of said blood vessel and for bridging said aneurysm, said graft means having a first axial end, portions of said graft means adjacent said first axial end being for directly contacting said first relatively healthy section of said blood vessel, said first axial end of the graft means being fixedly disposed with respect to the second axial end of the stent means in a substantially end-to-end connection without overlap, said graft means further having a second axial end for directly contacting said second relatively healthy section of said blood vessel,   a ring affixed to the graft means in proximity to said first axial end of the graft means; and   hooks mounted to the ring and extending beyond the first axial end of the graft means, the hooks being fixedly connected with the stent means to maintain the substantially end-to-end connection of the graft means and the stent means so that the first end of the graft means and the second downstream end of the stent means are substantially contiguous while defining a small axial space therebetween, and said graft means further having a smaller cross-section than a connection with overlap of the stent means and the graft means so that the endovascular stent/graft assembly can be introduced more easily into the blood vessel.   
     
     
         2 . The endovascular stent/graft assembly of  claim 1 , wherein a distance between the first axial end of the graft means and the second axial end of the stent means is less than diameters of the graft means and the stent means.