Vascular surgeons often use stent grafts to treat patients with peripheral vascular disease to restore adequate blood flow to affected regions of the body, preventing tissue death and loss of limb. Current stent grafts and deployment systems do not have a flexible enough design to meet needs for all patients, especially in the situation where there is a collateral blood vessel that must remain open. A deployment system is being developed using modified catheters to align and confirm position of the stent graft relative to a collateral vessel. The deployment system catheter comprises a central line for a guidewire, a 90-degree output channel for wire and radiopaque dye for flow verification, and a lumen for attachment of the stent graft. Prototypes were fabricated through resin casting and injection molding that can be attached to existing multilumen catheter tubing. This project will improve patient results by providing a cost effective, efficient, and safe way for vascular surgeons to position modified stent grafts in challenging anatomies in the peripheral vasculature.
