Highly flexible stent and method of manufacture
First Claim
1. An implantable prosthesis comprising:
- a continuous helical winding having a plurality of circumferential sections circumscribing a longitudinal axis from a first end to a second end to define a tube, the circumferential sections being spaced apart along the axis and including a plurality of struts joined together end to end, the end to end joining of two struts of the plurality of struts defining a vertex between the two struts;
a plurality of bridges connecting one circumferential section to an adjacent circumferential section; and
an annular ring including adjacent struts joined together and having five extensions with a first extension and a second extension extending from the annular ring and connecting to the first or second ends of the continuous helical winding, the first extension connecting to an end vertex at the first or second end, the second extension connecting to one of the plurality of bridges.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Preferred embodiments of a stent with a high degree of flexibility are shown and described. The stent can include a continuous helical winding having interconnected struts joined at vertices, and having bridges connecting sections of the helical winding to each other. An annular ring can be provided at one or both ends of the helical winding, and the annular ring can have five extensions extending to connect to the helical winding. One of the extensions can connect to a bridge and another extension can connect to a vertex. The struts at the ends of the helical winding can have strut lengths that differ from the strut lengths of the struts in a central portion of the winding between the ends of the winding.
230 Citations
17 Claims
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1. An implantable prosthesis comprising:
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a continuous helical winding having a plurality of circumferential sections circumscribing a longitudinal axis from a first end to a second end to define a tube, the circumferential sections being spaced apart along the axis and including a plurality of struts joined together end to end, the end to end joining of two struts of the plurality of struts defining a vertex between the two struts; a plurality of bridges connecting one circumferential section to an adjacent circumferential section; and an annular ring including adjacent struts joined together and having five extensions with a first extension and a second extension extending from the annular ring and connecting to the first or second ends of the continuous helical winding, the first extension connecting to an end vertex at the first or second end, the second extension connecting to one of the plurality of bridges. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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2. An implantable prosthesis comprising:
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a continuous helical winding having a plurality of circumferential sections circumscribing a longitudinal axis from a first end to a second end to define a tube, the circumferential sections including a first end circumferential section at the first end and a second end circumferential section at the second end and one or more central circumferential sections therebetween, the circumferential sections being spaced apart along the axis and including a plurality of struts joined together end to end, the end to end joining of two struts of the plurality of struts defining a vertex between the two struts, at least one of the vertices of the first or second end circumferential sections being an end vertex formed by a joining of two final struts of the first or second end circumferential sections; a plurality of bridges connecting one circumferential section to an adjacent circumferential section; and an annular ring having five extensions extending therefrom and connecting to the continuous helical winding, at least one extension connecting to the end vertex, at least one of the two final struts joining together to define the end vertex having an end strut length, the end strut length being different than a range of central strut lengths of the struts of the one or more central circumferential sections. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17)
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Specification