Patent ID: 8088159

Claim:
A prosthesis for insertion into a body passage comprising at least two annular resilient elements, each element formed from a plurality of radially overlapping windings of wire, said windings having been wound such that they sustain substantially continuous contact for a complete turn of the annular element, the diameter of each of the annular elements substantially the same as a diameter of at least one of said windings, said annular elements adapted to be folded around their respective diametric axes to assume a smaller cross-sectional configuration; a flexible tubular graft having a longitudinal axis and two free ends, one of said at least two annular elements attached to one of said two free ends and coaxial with said graft, the other of said at least two annular elements spaced apart from said one of said at least two annular elements; and a rigid member connected to at least one of said at least two annular elements, said rigid member parallel to the longitudinal axis of said graft and less flexible than said graft.