Apparatus for supporting personalized coronary stents

• US 10,568,696 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2017
• Issued: 02/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Baldauf, Julia S., Beurle, Darcy J., Downton, Matthew, Halupka, Kerry J., Moore, Stephen M., Schieber, Christine
• Primary Examiner(s): Prebilic, Paul B
• Application Number:
  US15/651,197
• Publication Number:
  US 20190015158A1
• Time in Patent Office: 953 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/104 Modelling the effect of the tool, e.g. the effect of an implanted prosthesis or for predicting the effect of ablation or burring
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/105 Modelling of the patient, e.g. for ligaments or bones
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/108 Computer aided selection or customisation of medical implants or cutting guides
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2048 using an accelerometer or inertia sensor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3735 Optical coherence tomography [OCT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3966 Radiopaque markers visible in an X-ray image
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/10 Computer-aided planning, simulation or modelling of surgical operations
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/844 folded prior to deployment
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/915 with bands having a meander structure, adjacent bands being connected to each other
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/91575 connected peak to trough
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/9583 Means for holding the stent on the balloon, e.g. using protrusions, adhesives or an outer sleeve
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2240/002 Designing or making customized prostheses

Abstract

A method including generating a 3-D model of an unstenosed geometry of a blood vessel responsive to a 3-D model of an actual geometry of the blood vessel, establishing a parametric description of a stent that is expanded from a collapsed configuration to a final configuration that apposes the unstenosed geometry, developing a design for the stent by varying parameters of the parametric description responsive to a design heuristic that includes risk of stent strut breakage during a plastic deformation between the collapsed configuration and the final configuration, embodying the stent according to the design for the stent, inserting the stent into a blood vessel in its collapsed configuration, maneuvering the stent through the blood vessel to a stenosis, and expanding the stent to its final configuration.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a mandrel that has a generally cylindrical hollow membrane for receiving a balloon and that has a plurality of pillars protruding outward from an outer surface of the membrane, wherein at least one of the pillars protrudes to a different radius than at least one other of the pillars; and

a stent supported on the mandrel by contact of outward ends of the pillars of the mandrel against bridges of the stent.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a balloon catheter inserted within the mandrel and inflated to stretch the mandrel.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the mandrel includes elliptical radiopaque markers.

4. An apparatus comprising:

a mandrel that has a generally cylindrical hollow membrane for receiving a balloon and that has a plurality of pillars protruding from an outer surface of the membrane, wherein at least one of the pillars protrudes to a different radius than at least one other of the pillars;

a stent supported on the mandrel by contact of the pillars of the mandrel against bridges of the stent; and

a sleeve surrounding the stent, the sleeve having inwardly-protruding fingers that contact the bridges of the stent in opposition to the pillars of the mandrel, wherein at least one of the inwardly-protruding fingers protrudes to a different radius than at least one other of the inwardly-protruding fingers.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 further comprising a balloon catheter inserted into the mandrel.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein at least one of the pillars of the mandrel has its outward end indented to cradle one of the bridges of the stent.

7. An apparatus comprising:

a collapsible and expandable mandrel that has a generally cylindrical hollow elastic membrane for receiving a balloon and that has a plurality of pillars protruding outward from an outer surface of the membrane, wherein at least one of the pillars protrudes to a different radius than at least one other of the pillars;

a stent supported on the mandrel by contact of outward ends of the pillars of the mandrel against bridges of the stent; and

a balloon inserted into the mandrel and inflated to stretch the mandrel, wherein the stretched mandrel supports the stent in a radially and axially asymmetric configuration.