Helical stent having improved flexibility and expandability
First Claim
1. A stent for insertion into a vessel of a patient, comprising:
- a tubular member having a first smaller diameter for insertion into the vessel, and a second larger diameter for deployment within the vessel, said tubular member including a central portion comprised of a plurality of helical circumferential windings separated by a helical space, each of said windings including a plurality of undulations, with each said undulation being defined by two adjacent struts and a loop connecting the struts, wherein adjacent windings are connected with a plurality of bridges, said bridges extending across said helical space between said adjacent windings and connected to said loops of a plurality of said undulations, and further wherein a same number of struts is traversed from any one bridge to a next bridge on each of said windings when traveling in either a right-handed or left-handed direction along each of said windings, and wherein said tubular member includes cylindrical end portions, and a transition zone between said central portion and each of said end portions, said transition zone including a plurality of transition undulations having struts that progressively increase in length, wherein a relatively longer strut of said transition undulations has a relatively wider width than a relatively shorter strut of said transition undulations.
3 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
A stent includes a central portion of helically wound undulations formed of struts, cylindrical end portions, and transition zones between the helical portion and the cylindrical portions. According to a first aspect of the invention, the torsional flexibility of the stent is maximized by having bridges connecting adjacent winding be interrupted by the maximum possible number of undulations. In a preferred design, each winding includes nineteen undulations around the circumference, bridges are provided every five undulations. According to a second aspect of the invention, uniform opening of the transition zone is achieved by altering the width, and thereby the flexibility, of a series of struts in accordance with their lengths. Specifically, the long transition zone struts are made wider.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A stent for insertion into a vessel of a patient, comprising:
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a tubular member having a first smaller diameter for insertion into the vessel, and a second larger diameter for deployment within the vessel, said tubular member including a central portion comprised of a plurality of helical circumferential windings separated by a helical space, each of said windings including a plurality of undulations, with each said undulation being defined by two adjacent struts and a loop connecting the struts, wherein adjacent windings are connected with a plurality of bridges, said bridges extending across said helical space between said adjacent windings and connected to said loops of a plurality of said undulations, and further wherein a same number of struts is traversed from any one bridge to a next bridge on each of said windings when traveling in either a right-handed or left-handed direction along each of said windings, and wherein said tubular member includes cylindrical end portions, and a transition zone between said central portion and each of said end portions, said transition zone including a plurality of transition undulations having struts that progressively increase in length, wherein a relatively longer strut of said transition undulations has a relatively wider width than a relatively shorter strut of said transition undulations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A stent for insertion into a vessel of a patient, comprising:
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a tubular member having a first smaller diameter for insertion into the vessel, and a second larger diameter for deployment within the vessel, said tubular member including a central portion comprised of a plurality of helical circumferential windings separated by a helical space, each of said windings including a plurality of undulations, with each said undulation being defined by two adjacent struts and a loop connecting the struts, wherein adjacent windings are connected with a plurality of bridges, said bridges extending across said helical space between said adjacent winding and connected to said loops of a plurality of said undulations, wherein, for at least one of said windings, for any given number n of undulations on said winding and any given number b of bridges connected to said winding, where n≠
b, a maximum number of undulations is provided between said bridges, and further including,a transition zone between said central portion and each of said cylindrical end portions, said transition zone including a plurality of transition undulations having struts that progressively increase in length, wherein a relatively longer strut of said transition undulations has a relatively wider width than a relatively shorter strut of said transition undulations. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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14. A stent for insertion into a vessel of a patient, comprising:
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a tubular member having a first smaller diameter for insertion into the vessel, and a second larger diameter for deployment within the vessel, and defining a longitudinal axis, said tubular member including a central portion comprised of a plurality of helical circumferential windings separated by a helical space, each of said windings including a plurality of undulations, with each said undulation being defined by two adjacent struts and a loop connecting said struts, at least one cylindrical end portion at an end of said central portion, and a transition zone between said central portion and each of said cylindrical end portions, said transition zone including a plurality of transition undulations having struts that progressively increase in length, wherein a relatively longer strut of said transition undulations has a relatively wider width than a relatively shorter strut of said transition undulations. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification