Flat process of preparing drug eluting stents
First Claim
1. A method of fabricating a filled stent comprising the steps of:
- cutting a plurality of stent patterns into a flat sheet of metal, each of said stent patterns comprising stent members and reservoirs, and first and second long sides, each of said reservoirs located on at least one of a first and second major surface and exposed exclusively thereto;
filling said reservoirs of said flat stent pattern with a composition;
folding said filled stent pattern into a tubular shape so that said first and second long sides meet; and
attaching said first and second long sides to form a filled stent;
wherein said filled stent reservoirs and at least one of the first and second major surface are exposed to at least one of a vessel lumen or a vessel wall when the stent is implanted in a vessel.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a method of fabricating a drug delivery stent. In one embodiment, the method involves forming a stent pattern in a flat sheet, where the stent pattern includes reservoirs, generating a flat map of the reservoirs, filling the reservoirs with a composition based on the flat map, and then forming the filled stent pattern into a tubular shape and joining the sides. In another embodiment, the method involves forming a stent pattern in a flat sheet, generating a flat map of discrete portions of the stent pattern that are desirable locations for coating, coating the discrete portions with a composition based on the flat map, and then forming the coated stent pattern into a tubular shape and joining the sides. The invention provides advantages over current methods and drug-delivery stents in that it is faster, more accurate and more cost-efficient manufacturing process for fabricating drug delivery stents, that improves quality and consistency of drug delivery within and across batches of stents, and that permits automated a process of quality control. This method also allows for differential coating on the two surfaces of the stent struts, whereby the two sides are coated with different drugs and/or polymer combinations, or only one side of the strut is coated.
-
Citations
34 Claims
-
1. A method of fabricating a filled stent comprising the steps of:
-
cutting a plurality of stent patterns into a flat sheet of metal, each of said stent patterns comprising stent members and reservoirs, and first and second long sides, each of said reservoirs located on at least one of a first and second major surface and exposed exclusively thereto; filling said reservoirs of said flat stent pattern with a composition; folding said filled stent pattern into a tubular shape so that said first and second long sides meet; and attaching said first and second long sides to form a filled stent; wherein said filled stent reservoirs and at least one of the first and second major surface are exposed to at least one of a vessel lumen or a vessel wall when the stent is implanted in a vessel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A method of filling reservoirs of a drug eluting stent comprising:
-
providing a flat stent pattern, wherein said stent pattern includes a plurality of reservoirs, wherein said reservoirs are located on a major surface; generating a flat map containing information regarding the location of said plurality of reservoirs on said flat stent pattern, said flat map based on one of the group consisting of;
said cut flat stent pattern and a tool used for cutting said flat stent pattern;depositing a composition into said reservoirs using said flat map, while said stent pattern is in a flat configuration. - View Dependent Claims (15)
-
-
16. A method of fabricating a coated stent comprising the steps of:
-
cutting a plurality of stent patterns into a flat sheet of metal, each of said stent patterns comprising a plurality of discrete portions, a luminal surface, a vessel wall surface, a first long side, and a second long side; coating said discrete portions on a surface of each stent pattern with a composition to form a coated stent pattern; folding said coated stent pattern into a tubular shape so that said first and second long sides meet; and attaching said first and second long sides to form a coated stent, wherein said coated surface is exposed to at least one of said vessel lumen or said vessel wall when said stent is implanted in a vessel. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
-
Specification