Audencio Alanis
Medical Practice in Houston, TX

2002004, Apr 25, 2002

Sep 5, 2001

09/946185

Audencio Alanis - Houston TX, US

A61F002/06

604/008000, 623/001300, 623/001360

A method and apparatus for providing permanent arterial-venous (“AV”) access to a patient for the purposes of conducting hemodialysis procedures and the like. In one embodiment, an AV graft is provided with a venous end of relatively small diameter adapted to be introduced into a patient's superior vena cava. The opposite, arterial end of the graft has a larger diameter than the venous end, while an intermediate body portion of the graft has an even larger diameter. In one configuration, the graft is introduced using a cut-down procedure in which venous access is established at a location on the patient's arm, while the venous end of the graft is fed through the patient's vein until the distal venous end thereof becomes situated in the superior vena cava. The arterial end of the graft is then tunneled down the patient's arm to a desired arterial access site, where an anastomotic coupling is effectuated. In another embodiment, the distal venous end of the graft is introduced percutaneously through the patient's jugular vein, while the body and arterial distal end are tunneled down to a selected arterial access site. The inventive graft is preferably composed of Thoralon®, PTFE or, alternatively, of a polyurethane section serving as the venous end fused to a PTFE section serving as the arterial end.