Hand-held stent crimper
First Claim
1. A crimper for receiving a catheter and for placing and crimping a balloon-deployable device onto a catheter, the crimper comprising:
- a guide member having a longitudinal axis generally coinciding with a longitudinal feed axis of the crimper;
a holding member positioned with respect to said guide member so as to accommodate a balloon-deployable device such as a stent and a catheter slidingly inserted along said guide member, into said crimper, and into a balloon-deployable device along said crimper longitudinal feed axis;
an elongated wrapping member which wraps substantially around said holding member so as to generally define a substantially cylindrical compression site lying along said longitudinal feed axis of the crimper; and
a moving and guiding assembly along which the elongated wrapping member passes and by which the elongated wrapping member imparts a cylindrical compressive force onto said holding member and a balloon-deployable device positioned therewithin, whereby a balloon-deployable device is crimped onto the catheter.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A stent crimper is provided for loading a stent onto a catheter in order to provide a stenting assembly that is suitable for use in procedures in conjunction with percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty catheters. The crimper has a stent holding member or sheath which supports the stent by its exterior surface so that a balloon of a catheter can be slid within the stent. An elongated wrapping member or belt winds around the sheath. By properly manipulating the belt, the belt applies generally cylindrical radially directed forces onto the sheath and thus onto the stent within the sheath, as well as the balloon beneath the stent, in order to crimp the stent onto the balloon. A procedure is also illustrated by which a stent is crimped onto the balloon by a hand-held crimper which can be discarded after stent delivery and crimping has been completed.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A crimper for receiving a catheter and for placing and crimping a balloon-deployable device onto a catheter, the crimper comprising:
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a guide member having a longitudinal axis generally coinciding with a longitudinal feed axis of the crimper; a holding member positioned with respect to said guide member so as to accommodate a balloon-deployable device such as a stent and a catheter slidingly inserted along said guide member, into said crimper, and into a balloon-deployable device along said crimper longitudinal feed axis; an elongated wrapping member which wraps substantially around said holding member so as to generally define a substantially cylindrical compression site lying along said longitudinal feed axis of the crimper; and a moving and guiding assembly along which the elongated wrapping member passes and by which the elongated wrapping member imparts a cylindrical compressive force onto said holding member and a balloon-deployable device positioned therewithin, whereby a balloon-deployable device is crimped onto the catheter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A crimper for receiving a catheter and for placing and crimping a balloon-deployable device onto a catheter, the crimper comprising:
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a guide member having a longitudinal axis generally coinciding with a longitudinal feed axis of the crimper; a holding sheath positioned with respect to said guide member so as to accommodate balloon-deployable device such as a stent and a catheter slidingly inserted along said guide member, into said crimper, and into said balloon-deployable device along said crimper longitudinal feed axis; an elongated wrapping belt which wraps around substantially the circumference of said holding sheath so as to generally define a substantially cylindrical compression belt loop lying along said longitudinal feed axis of the crimper; and a moving and guiding assembly by which the elongated wrapping belt imparts a cylindrical compressive force onto said holding sheath and said balloon-deployable device positioned therewithin, whereby the balloon-deployable device is crimped onto the catheter, said moving and guiding assembly including a pair of pinch rollers over which the elongated wrapping belt is fed, said substantially cylindrical compression belt loop being between the pair of pinch rollers, said moving and guiding assembly further including a drive shaft and knob assembly which is rotatable within the crimper by manual turning of said knob, a leading end of said elongated wrapping belt being secured to said drive shaft, and a trailing length of the elongated wrapping belt engages a member for imparting frictional drag onto the trailing length of the elongated wrapping belt. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. A crimper and balloon-deployable device, the crimper comprising:
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a balloon-deployable device such as a stent; a guide member having a longitudinal axis generally coinciding with a longitudinal feed axis of the crimper; a holding member positioned with respect to said guide member so as to accommodate said balloon-deployable device and a catheter slidingly inserted along said guide member, into said crimper, along said crimper longitudinal feed axis; an elongated wrapping member which wraps substantially around said holding member so as to generally define a substantially cylindrical compression site lying along said longitudinal feed axis of the crimper; and a moving and guiding assembly along which the elongated wrapping member passes and by which the elongated wrapping member imparts a cylindrical compressive force onto said holding member and said balloon-deployable device positioned therewithin, whereby said balloon-deployable device is crimped onto the catheter. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A procedure for crimping a balloon-deployable device onto a catheter, comprising the steps of:
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inserting a balloon-deployable device within a stent holding member so that the outside surface of the balloon-deployable device and the inside surface of holding member engage each other so as to provide an assembly of said balloon-deployable device and said holding member; positioning said assembly within a crimper having an elongated wrapping member which engages the outside surface of the holding member; inserting a catheter into the crimper and into the balloon-deployable device of said assembly; moving the elongated wrapping member over the holding member while the elongated wrapping member imparts radially directed forces onto the holding member; continuing said moving step until said radially directed forces collapse the holding member and the balloon-deployable device therewithin onto the catheter, thereby crimping the balloon-deployable device onto the catheter; and withdrawing from the crimper the catheter and the balloon-deployable device crimped thereonto. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification