Stent having a multiplicity of undulating longitudinals

• US 6,086,604 A
• Filed: 03/05/1999
• Issued: 07/11/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cordis Corporation (Cardinal Health, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: David R. Fischell, Robert E. Fischell, Tim A. Fischell
• Inventors: Fischell, Tim A., Fischell, David R., Fischell, Robert E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Buiz, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lewis, William W.
• Application Number:
  US09/263,518
• Time in Patent Office: 494 Days
• Field of Search: 606/1, 606/108, 606/194, 606/195, 606/198, 606/200, 623/1, 623/12, 604/96
• US Class Current: 606/198
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/844 folded prior to deployment
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/90 characterised by a net-like or mesh-like structure
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/91 made from perforated sheet material or tubes, e.g. perforated by laser cuts or etched holes
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/915 with bands having a meander structure, adjacent bands being connected to each other
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/825 having longitudinal struts
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/91533 characterised by the phase between adjacent bands
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/9155 Adjacent bands being connected to each other
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2210/0019 operated at only one temperature whilst inside or touching the human body, e.g. constrained in a non-operative shape during surgery, another temperature only occurring before the operation

Abstract

The present invention provides for an expandable stent (10 or 20) for use in an artery or other vessel of a human body. The stent structure (10 or 20) maintains the patency of the vessel within which the stent (10 or 20) is expanded radially outward. One embodiment of the present invention is a stent (10) having a multiplicity of frames (12) joined together by at least two undulating longitudinal structures (14L and 14R) which can readily change their length in the longitudinal direction so as to provide increased longitudinal flexibility for the stent (10) for easy passage through and placement within a curved vessel such as a coronary artery. The stent (20) is an embodiment of the present invention having frames (22) joined with longitudinal structures (24B, 24T and 24R) and formed from a single, thin-walled piece of metal by laser cutting or chemical etching. Because the stent (20) is fabricated from a single piece of metal, it provides a multiplicity of closed perimeter cells that are formed as a continuous metal structure.

Claims

1. A predeployment stent adapted for placement in the vessels of the human body, said stent comprising:

a thin-walled metal cylinder having a longitudinal axis, a proximal end and a distal end;

a multiplicity of continuous closed circumferential zig-zag segments, the zig-zag segments being joined one to the other by one or more longitudinals extending in a substantially longitudinal direction, at least a portion of at least one of said longitudinals having an undulating shape;

a first zig-zag segment located at the proximal end of the stent and a second zig-zag segment located at the distal end of the stent;

the first and second zig-zag segments being formed at least in part from a radiopaque metal to provide fluoroscopic indication of the stent position within the vessel.

2. The stent of claim 1 wherein the radiopaque metal is gold.

3. The stent of claim 1 wherein the radiopaque material is plated on the zig-zag segment.