In Reply to: Re: Case 0298_11--Infrarenal abdominal aortic traumatic rupture: Treatment with endoluminal covered stent posted by Luke Sewall on February 17, 1998 at 09:05:16:
The advantage of having pre-made stent-grafts is the more predictable mechanical properties of the device. A 12 mm wide Wallgraft will expand and stay at 12 mm. That's the way it was built at the factory. All the Wallgrafts that I've deployed behaved similarly to regular Wallstents. They did not shrink. I am not surprised that covering a regular Wallstent with the material that you mentioned caused it to shrink. Wallstents are not known for their hoop strength. A better choice for home-made stent graft would be Palmaz or Z-stent, both with better hoop strength. In my mind, the biggest concern re. Wallgrafts will be their biocompatibility. I have not seen acute thrombogenicity which is a good sign.