Patent ID: 8133277

Claim:
A graft configured for implantation in a human or animal body which defines a lumen for flowing a bodily fluid from an upstream end of the graft to a downstream end thereof, the graft having a luminal wall that extends between the upstream and downstream ends and defines the lumen within which the fluid flows, the luminal wall comprising a succession of protuberances spaced from each other along the length of the graft, each protuberance having a flank facing upstream and a flank facing downstream, the flank facing upstream extending into the fluid flow so that a radially outermost part of the flow of fluid from the upstream to the downstream end of the graft impinges on the upstream flank and is thereby caused to reverse its flow and flow upstream from the upstream flank to the downstream flank of an adjacent protuberance upstream, creating micro-vortices between adjacent protuberances.