A method of braiding a stent includes braiding a number of elongate filaments around a mandrel using tensioned braiding carriers without spooling the filaments to the tensioned braiding carriers to form a braided stent having atraumatic ends.

It is an object to provide a woven fabric which can stably form a folding shape superior in shape retention and followability and which can be sewn while maintaining the folding structure, and also to provide a method for manufacturing the same. There is provided a woven fabric having pleats, wherein the height of the pleats is 2 to 10 times the average diameter of yarns arranged in the same direction as the pleats.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, a stent is described having a generally cylindrical body formed from a single woven nitinol wire. The distal and proximal ends of the stent include a plurality of loops, some of which include marker members used for visualizing the position of the stent. In another embodiment, the previously described stent includes an inner flow diverting layer.

Stents are disclosed herein. In some embodiments stents within the scope of this disclosure may comprise a first flared end and second flared end. In some embodiments, a profile of each of the first flared end and the second flared end may circumscribe a portion of separate elliptical arcs. In some embodiments, the stents are formed from braided or woven wires having a constant pitch along a middle region and continuously varying pitches along the first flared end and the second flared end. Methods of manufacturing stents are disclosed herein. Methods of using stents are also disclosed herein.

Methods of braiding using a braiding mechanism are described. The braiding mechanism includes a disc defining a plane and a circumferential edge, a mandrel extending from a center of the disc that is adapted to hold a plurality of filaments extending radially from the mandrel toward the circumferential edge of the disc, a plurality of catch mechanisms positioned circumferentially around the edge of the disc, a plurality of actuators adapted to move the plurality of catch mechanisms in a substantially radial direction relative to the circumferential edge of the disc, and a plurality of filaments extending radially from the mandrel towards circumferential edge of the disc. A middle portion of each filament of the plurality of filaments contacts an end of the mandrel.

A material includes nonwoven fibers and a surface modification that crosslinks the nonwoven fibers together. The surface modification can include chemical reactive groups. The reactive groups can be selected from diisocyanates, alcohols, epoxides, imides, amides, imines, amines, diacrylates, disiloxanes and disilazanes. A method of forming the material electrospins fiber material in the form of fibers into a nonwoven material. A surface modification is introduced to the fibers either by modifying the fiber material before the electrospinning or by modifying the fiber surface after the electrospinning. The fibers are crosslinked to form the crosslinked nonwoven material.

A woven prosthesis, such as a woven vascular graft, woven from warp and weft yarns. Velour warp yarns forming the prosthesis are selectively incorporated into a base layer of the prosthesis so as to provide a bulbous section without compromising the porosity of the prosthesis.

A delivery system includes a catheter with a removable constraint. The removable constraint is a knit tubular construct. The removable constraint can be used, for example, to constrain a medical device to a delivery configuration. The removable constraint may include one or more fibers or strands arranged about the device to maintain the device in a constrained or delivery configuration.

An illustrative stent may comprise an elongated tubular member having a longitudinal axis, the elongated tubular member comprising at least one knitted filament forming a plurality of twisted knit stitches with intermediate rung portions extending circumferentially between radially adjacent twisted knit stitches. Each twisted knit stitch may be interconnected with a longitudinally adjacent twisted knit stitch forming a series of linked stitches. The elongated tubular member may be configured to move between a collapsed configuration and an expanded configuration, wherein in the collapsed configuration the series of linked stitches form longitudinal columns and in the expanded configuration the series of linked stitches extend helically around the elongated tubular member.

An automated system that can be used for prosthetic heart valve manufacturing or suturing procedures. The system can include a first automated fixture that includes an articulating arm and a target device holder. The system can also include one or more additional automated fixtures, which can be configured as one or more suturing arms that include another articulating arm and a needle holder. The first automated fixture can be configured to rotate a target device held by the holder to allow the one or more additional automated fixtures to perform operations such as form sutures on the target device without intervention of a human operator. The system can include a display system configured to display status information of a suturing procedure.