Patent ID: 7553326

Claim:
A method of reducing or eliminating dialysis graft intimal hyperplasia of a human or animal patient that is adapted for hemodialysis graft access in the treatment of kidney disease comprising, providing a polymeric tube that is flexible throughout and is a) comprised of a material adapted for surgical grafting at both ends thereof, b) constructed and arranged to permit access throughout to the patient's blood and c) formed from a material that is transparent to light energy to thereby enable visible light to be directed therethrough for exteriorly irradiating blood cells proliferating within the tube to kill or debilitate the cells and having a pair of ends for circulating blood between blood vessels of the patient, applying an erodible biocompatible coating matrix to an interior surface of the tube, said erodible matrix having a cell-division inhibiting agent consisting essentially of an anticarcinogen dispersed therein that during use is in direct contact with the blood of the patient, surgically grafting the tube between the patient's native blood vessels such that said tube thereby comprises a loop graft forming a shunt which replaces a portion of said blood vessel by being grafted thereto at each of said ends for enabling the blood to circulate through the tube from one of the patient's vessels to another, controlling delivery of the agent into a central lumen of the tube at selected rate that is the sustained release rate of the erodible matrix that is used, exposing the mobile proliferating cells responsible for graft intimal hyperplasia to cool red or blue visible light, said light being characterized by the absence of sensible heat thereby preventing damage to surrounding tissue, the exposure to light being carried out in the presence of oxygen to cause destruction of the proliferating cells consisting essentially of apoptosis or necrosis of the cells resulting from the treatment of the cells by the red or blue light while exposing proliferating cells within the tube to said cell-division inhibiting agent to reduce or eliminate one or more of the symptoms of dialysis graft intimal hyperplasia.