Flexible implantable stent with composite design
First Claim
1. A vascular or endoluminal stent adapted for deployment in a vessel or tract of a patient to maintain an open lumen therein, comprising a biocompatible hollow tube with distinctive end regions and a middle region between the end regions, each of said middle and end regions having a multiplicity of openings through an open-ended wall of the tube, said openings being defined by surrounding struts in a network of interconnected struts, the struts in the middle region being wider than the struts in either end region, whereby to render the middle region relatively more rigid and the end regions relatively more flexible.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A stent is adapted for deployment at a preselected site in a duct within the body of a patient to inhibit the lumen of the duct at that site from narrowing to a point that resists passage through the lumen. The stent is a generally cylindrical open-ended element having a perforated self-supporting sidewall of substantially uniform thickness adapted to be selectively expanded radially when the stent is to be deployed, to engage the wall of the duct and to resist radial contraction under forces exerted on said sidewall by the wall of the duct in the region of the engagement. The sidewall has greater rigidity in the midsection of the length of the cylindrical element and greater flexibility at each end thereof, by virtue of its having a composite design of different patterns, each pattern being a network of interconnected links with openings therebetween that determine the relative rigidity and flexibility of the sidewall along the length of the cylindrical element. The links may be sized to produce the differences in relative rigidity and flexibility along the length of the sidewall, and the sizing may undergo an abrupt or a continuous change between the midsection and each end of the cylindrical element. For sizing, the links may exhibit a decrease in width from the midsection to either end of the cylindrical element. Where the duct is a blood vessel with side branches emanating from the lumen of the main vessel, at least some of the openings between links in the midsection of the sidewall may be sized to enable access to the side branches from the lumen of the stent when the stent is deployed at the selected site in the main vessel.
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Citations
15 Claims
- 1. A vascular or endoluminal stent adapted for deployment in a vessel or tract of a patient to maintain an open lumen therein, comprising a biocompatible hollow tube with distinctive end regions and a middle region between the end regions, each of said middle and end regions having a multiplicity of openings through an open-ended wall of the tube, said openings being defined by surrounding struts in a network of interconnected struts, the struts in the middle region being wider than the struts in either end region, whereby to render the middle region relatively more rigid and the end regions relatively more flexible.
- 9. A stent adapted for deployment at a preselected site in a duct within the body of a patient to inhibit the lumen of the duct at said site from narrowing to a point that resists passage therethrough, said stent comprising a generally cylindrical open-ended element having a permeable self-supporting sidewall of substantially uniform thickness adapted to be selectively expanded radially when the stent is to be deployed, to engage the wall of the duct and to resist radial contraction under forces exerted on said sidewall by the wall of the duct in the region of engagement therebetween, said sidewall being more rigid in the midsection of the length of said cylindrical element and more flexible at each end thereof, said sidewall comprising a network of interconnected links with openings therebetween determining the relative rigidity and flexibility of the sidewall along the length of said cylindrical element.
Specification