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Stent with reinforced struts and bimodal deployment

  • US 6,773,455 B2
  • Filed: 05/03/2001
  • Issued: 08/10/2004
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/24/1997
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A flexible stent for implantation in a body lumen and expandable from a contracted condition to an expanded condition, comprising:

  • a plurality of adjacent cylindrical elements which are expandable in the radial direction and arranged in alignment along a longitudinal stent axis;

    the cylindrical elements formed in a serpentine wave pattern transverse to the longimdinal axis and containing a plurality of alternating peaks and valleys;

    at least one interconnecting member extending between adjacent cylindrical elements and connecting them to one another;

    at least one reinforcing member extending across a width of the alternating peaks and valleys such that the reinforcing member is curved and has a circumferential width when the stent is in the contracted condition;

    each reinforcing member lying in the same circumferential plane as the cylindrical elements and having a configuration essentially parallel to the longitudinal stent axis when the stent is in the contracted condition; and

    the serpentine pattern having varying degrees of curvature in regions of the peaks and valleys adapted so that radial expansion of the adjacent cylindrical elements is substantially uniform around a circumference of the cylindrical elements during expansion of the stent from the contracted condition to the expanded condition;

    wherein the circumferential width of each reinforcing member is smaller than the width of the peak or valley it extends across;

    wherein each of the alternating peaks and valleys has one of said reinforcing members extending across its width.

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