Patent ID: 6960217

Claim:
A method for repairing a diseased or damaged section of an aorta comprising: (i) advancing a guidewire from a remote access site to a target site in the aorta where the diseased or damaged section exists; (ii) introducing a prosthesis deployment catheter over the guidewire to the target site, the prosthesis deployment catheter carrying a radially expandable prosthesis including at least one scaffold; (iii) deploying at least one scaffold of the radially expandable prosthesis from the deployment catheter at the target site; (iv) introducing a directing device from a remote access site to a location within the radially expandable prosthesis, the directing device including an interior lumen and deflectable distal region; (v) manipulating the directing device including rotating die directing device and/or deflecting the distal region within the radially expandable prosthesis to orient the distal region with respect to a desired fastening site on the radially expandable prosthesis; (vi) introducing an intraluminal fastener applier through the interior lumen to the desired fastening site, the intraluminal fastener carrying a single tissue-piercing fastener; (vii) introducing from the intraluminal fastener applier the single tissue-piercing fastener into tissue at the desired fastening site to anchor the prosthesis; (viii) withdrawing the intraluminal fastener applier through the interior lumen from the desired fastening site to the remote access site; (ix) loading another single tissue-piercing fastener into the intraluminal fastener applier at a remote access site; (x) manipulating the directing device including rotating the directing device and/or deflecting the distal region within the radially expandable prosthesis to orient the distal region with respect to another desired fastening site on the radially expandable prosthesis; (xi) reintroducing the intraluminal fastener applier through the interior lumen to the another desired fastening site, the intraluminal fastener carrying the another single tissue-piercing fastener; (xii) introducing from the intraluminal fastener applier the another single tissue-piercing fastener into tissue at the another desired fastening site to further anchor the prosthesis; (xiii) repeating steps viii to (xii) until a desired plurality of tissue-piercing fasteners are introduced into tissue to anchor the prosthesis.