Stent with reduced weld profiles and a closed-end wire configuration
First Claim
1. An implantable stent comprising:
- a plurality of wires arranged to form a hollow tubular structure having a tubular wall to define an interior surface and an exterior surface and having opposed open first and second ends,wherein the wires terminate at said second open end and an adjacently abutting pair of wires are welded at said second open end with a welding material to provide a first weld consisting of two wires and the welding material welded together,wherein at least one of the adjacently abutting stent wires is extended past the first weld to define an extended wire and looped into an equilaterally arched loop having an apex having similar curvatures on either side of said apex, but not having other bends so that the extended wire adjacently abuts a proximal pair of parallel wires to define three substantially parallel wires,wherein the three substantially parallel wires are welded directly to each other with the welding material to provide a second weld, and furtherwherein at least about 25% to about 50% by weight of the welded material has been removed by selective chemical or electro-chemical polishing to reduce the profile of the first and second welds to less than a diameter of the wires.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for making an implantable stent includes the steps of (i) providing a plurality of elongate stent wires; (ii) forming said wires into a hollow tubular structure having opposed first and second open ends; (iii) terminating said wires at the second end; (iv) aligning the wires at the second end into a plurality of mated adjacent wires to define a plurality of abutting regions; (v) welding the mated adjacent wires to one and the other at the abutting regions to define a plurality of welds; and optionally (vi) chemically or electro-chemically removing a portion of the welds. The method may further include the steps of (a) extending at least one of the mated stent wires to provide an extended stent wire; (b) looping the extended stent wire so the extended end abuts a proximal pair of stent wires; and (c) welding the extended and looped wire to the proximal pair of wires. The step of looping may include the forming of the wire into an equilaterally arched loop having an apex, but not having other sharp bends.
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Citations
38 Claims
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1. An implantable stent comprising:
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a plurality of wires arranged to form a hollow tubular structure having a tubular wall to define an interior surface and an exterior surface and having opposed open first and second ends, wherein the wires terminate at said second open end and an adjacently abutting pair of wires are welded at said second open end with a welding material to provide a first weld consisting of two wires and the welding material welded together, wherein at least one of the adjacently abutting stent wires is extended past the first weld to define an extended wire and looped into an equilaterally arched loop having an apex having similar curvatures on either side of said apex, but not having other bends so that the extended wire adjacently abuts a proximal pair of parallel wires to define three substantially parallel wires, wherein the three substantially parallel wires are welded directly to each other with the welding material to provide a second weld, and further wherein at least about 25% to about 50% by weight of the welded material has been removed by selective chemical or electro-chemical polishing to reduce the profile of the first and second welds to less than a diameter of the wires. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. An implantable stent comprising:
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a plurality of wires arranged to form a hollow tubular structure having a tubular wall to define an interior surface and an exterior surface and having opposed open first and second ends, wherein the wires terminate at said second open end and an adjacently abutting pair of wires are welded at said second open end with a welding material to provide a first weld consisting of two wires and the welding material welded together, wherein at least one of the adjacently abutting stent wire is extended past the first weld to define an extended wire and looped into an equilaterally arched loop having an apex, but not having other bends so that an end of the extended wire adjacently abuts a proximal pair of wires, wherein the end of the extended wire and the proximal pair of wires are welded directly to each other with the welding material to provide a second weld; wherein said apex has similar curvatures on either side of said apex and said equilaterally arched loop does not contain a second vertex having dissimilar curvatures; and wherein at least about 25% to about 50% by weight of the welding material has been removed by selective chemical or electro-chemical polishing to reduce the profile of the first and second welds to less than a diameter of the wires. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. An implantable stent comprising:
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a plurality of wires arranged to form a hollow tubular structure having a tubular wall to define an interior surface and an exterior surface and having opposed open first and second ends, wherein the wires terminate at said second open end with adjacently abutting two substantially parallel wires and adjacently abutting three wires substantially parallel in an alternating sequence, wherein the adjacently abutting and substantially parallel two wires are welded directly with a welding material to form a first weld consisting of the two wires and the welding material welded together, and the other and the adjacently abutting and substantially parallel three wires are welded directly to one and the other at said second open end with a welding material to provide a second weld, and further wherein at least about 25% to about 50% by weight of the welding material has been removed by selective chemical or electro-chemical polishing to reduce a depth and/or a width of the welds to about 150 microns or less.
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38. An implantable stent comprising:
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a plurality of wires arranged to form a hollow tubular structure having a tubular wall to define an interior surface and an exterior surface and having opposed open first and second ends, wherein the wires terminate at said second open end and an adjacently abutting pair of wires are welded at said second open end with a welding material to provide a first weld consisting of two wires and the welding material welded together, wherein at least one of the adjacently abutting stent wires is extended past the first weld to define an extended wire and looped into an equilaterally arched loop having an apex so that the extended wire adjacently abuts a proximal pair of wires where the extended wire and the proximate pair of wires are substantially parallel to each other, wherein the three substantially parallel wires are welded directly to each other with the welding material to provide a second weld, wherein said apex has similar curvatures on either side of said apex and said equilaterally arched loop does not contain a second vertex having dissimilar curvatures on either side of the second vertex, and wherein at least about 25% to about 50% by weight of the welded material has been removed by selective chemical or electro-chemical polishing to reduce the profile of the first and second welds to less than a diameter of the wires.
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Specification