Vascular stent and method of making and implanting a vacsular stent
First Claim
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1. A vascular stent, comprising:
- a continuous wire forming a substantially tubular body with a plurality of cells staggered around a circumference of the tubular body, the tubular body being longitudinally flexible and having an expanded state, an unexpanded state, and a wall thickness that is not substantially greater than said wire, each of said cells having a plurality of sides formed by said continuous wire and shared with an other of said cells, adjacent sides in individual ones of said cells being joined by a bend in said continuous wire, selected of said cells each making non-overlapping and abutting contact with an other of said cells;
said sides of said cells extending substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the tubular body when the tubular body is in said unexpanded state; and
said sides of said cells extending oblique to said longitudinal axis of the tubular body when the tubular body is in said expanded state, whereby said tubular body when positioned in a tortuous vessel bends along said longitudinal axis and conforms to the shape of the tortuous vessel an axial length of the tubular body being substantially equivalent in said unexpanded and said expanded state.
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Abstract
A vascular stent includes a continuous wire which is formed into a substantially tubular body having a plurality of oblong, open cells which are staggered around the circumference of the tube. When the body is formed in its unexpanded state, the long sides of each oblong cell are arranged substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tubular body. Adjoining cells may then be bonded together at a point between adjacent parallel sides on a cell. When the body is expanded, the adjacent sides of each cell extend oblique to the longitudinal axis of the body.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A vascular stent, comprising:
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a continuous wire forming a substantially tubular body with a plurality of cells staggered around a circumference of the tubular body, the tubular body being longitudinally flexible and having an expanded state, an unexpanded state, and a wall thickness that is not substantially greater than said wire, each of said cells having a plurality of sides formed by said continuous wire and shared with an other of said cells, adjacent sides in individual ones of said cells being joined by a bend in said continuous wire, selected of said cells each making non-overlapping and abutting contact with an other of said cells; said sides of said cells extending substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the tubular body when the tubular body is in said unexpanded state; and said sides of said cells extending oblique to said longitudinal axis of the tubular body when the tubular body is in said expanded state, whereby said tubular body when positioned in a tortuous vessel bends along said longitudinal axis and conforms to the shape of the tortuous vessel an axial length of the tubular body being substantially equivalent in said unexpanded and said expanded state. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A vascular stent, comprising:
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a continuous wire forming a substantially tubular body with a longitudinal axis, said body having an unexpanded state and an expanded state; said wire being formed into a generally sinusoidal wave pattern around a circumference of said tubular body wherein each wave in said wave pattern has an ascending side and a descending side with a peak between said ascending side and said descending side, and a valley between said descending side and an ascending side of an adjacent wave, the ascending and the descending sides in each wave pattern being of unequal length; and said ascending and descending sides of each wave being arranged substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis of said body when said body is in an unexpanded state. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A stent comprising:
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a continuous, malleable wire formed into a predetermined waveform pattern that includes a plurality of wire segments joined in a series by a plurality of bends; said predetermined waveform pattern being formed about a longitudinal axis to define a hollow cylinder that includes a plurality of pairs of said bends in abutting contact and that has a wall thickness that is not substantially greater than said wire; selected of said pairs of bends being bonded to one another and making a non-overlapping connection so that said hollow cylinder further includes a plurality of closed cells bounded on all sides by wire, sides of said closed cells being shared with one another; and said hollow cylinder having a first diameter and at least a portion of said hollow cylinder being inelastically deformable from said first diameter to a second expanded diameter whereby an axial length of said hollow cylinder is substantially equivalent in an unexpanded and an expanded state. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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Specification