Patent ID: 8038690

Claim:
A vascular graft for anastomosis of a pair of end portions ( 8 / 8 ′) of a blood vessel, each end portion terminating at an end, said vascular graft comprising a first staple ( 1 ), a second staple ( 1 ), a first cylindrical element ( 4 ) and a second cylindrical element ( 4 ), each staple ( 1 ) comprising a ring ( 2 ) and a plurality of legs ( 3 ) extending therefrom, each leg ( 3 ) terminating at a tip, the first cylindrical element ( 4 ) having a plurality of guide holes extending longitudinally or inwardly converging, the second cylindrical element ( 4 ) having a plurality of guide holes extending longitudinally or inwardly converging, the first staple ( 1 ) being matable with the first cylindrical element ( 4 ) so that each of the first staple legs ( 3 ) extends through a respective one of the first cylindrical element ( 4 ) guide holes, the second staple ( 1 ) being matable with the second cylindrical element ( 4 ) so that each of the second staple legs ( 3 ) extends through a respective one of the second cylindrical element ( 4 ) guide holes, each of the cylindrical elements ( 4 ) having a diameter, a length and a configuration effective (a) to permit each of the cylindrical elements to be placed externally around one of the respective end portions ( 8 / 8 ′), (b) to guide the legs of the corresponding staple to pierce a wall of the corresponding end portion from the outside with each tip of each leg ending up within the wall and short of the end of the end portion, (c) to permit the two cylindrical elements to be brought together and fixed in position in relationship to each other so that the two ends of the end portions of the blood vessel abut each other in longitudinal relationship.