Device allowing the treatment of bodily conduits at an area of a bifurcation
First Claim
1. A device allowing treatment of bodily conduits at an area of a bifurcation, the device comprising a stent and a separating means, the stent having a plurality of areas of separation and the separating means being able to be introduced through a wall of the stent at one or more of the plurality of areas of separation and to exert a breaking force;
- wherein;
the stent is a self-expanding stent capable of having two states of expansion, a first state in which the stent has a first cross-sectional area and a second state in which the stent has a second cross-sectional area larger than said first cross-sectional area;
each said plurality of areas of separation has a number of bridge structures that form separable junctions, by which a medial portion of the stent is maintained in the first state of expansion when ends of the stent are maintained in this first state of expansion;
the breaking force provided by the separating means is sufficient to break at least one separable junction of said one or more of the plurality of areas of separation so as to break the self-expanded stent into two stent sections at the area of the bifurcation and to allow at least one of the stent sections to further self-expand to said second state of expansion, in which said at least one stent section conforms to a shape of a main conduit and/or to a shape of a secondary conduit at the area of the bifurcation;
the main conduit has an expanding frustoconical shape in the area of the bifurcation; and
the second cross-sectional area is at least 125% more than a cross-sectional area of the main conduit at a narrower end of the frustoconical shape.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The device includes a stent and a separating device, the stent having a number of areas of separation and the separating device being able to be introduced through the wall of the stent at an area of separation. According to embodiments of the invention, each area of separation has a number of separable junctions; the activation of the separating device separates at least one of the separable junctions of the area of separation so as to separate the stent into two stent sections at the area of the bifurcation and to allow the stent sections to further expand to respectively conform to a shape of the main conduit and to a shape of the secondary conduit at the area of the bifurcation.
134 Citations
53 Claims
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1. A device allowing treatment of bodily conduits at an area of a bifurcation, the device comprising a stent and a separating means, the stent having a plurality of areas of separation and the separating means being able to be introduced through a wall of the stent at one or more of the plurality of areas of separation and to exert a breaking force;
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wherein; the stent is a self-expanding stent capable of having two states of expansion, a first state in which the stent has a first cross-sectional area and a second state in which the stent has a second cross-sectional area larger than said first cross-sectional area; each said plurality of areas of separation has a number of bridge structures that form separable junctions, by which a medial portion of the stent is maintained in the first state of expansion when ends of the stent are maintained in this first state of expansion; the breaking force provided by the separating means is sufficient to break at least one separable junction of said one or more of the plurality of areas of separation so as to break the self-expanded stent into two stent sections at the area of the bifurcation and to allow at least one of the stent sections to further self-expand to said second state of expansion, in which said at least one stent section conforms to a shape of a main conduit and/or to a shape of a secondary conduit at the area of the bifurcation; the main conduit has an expanding frustoconical shape in the area of the bifurcation; and the second cross-sectional area is at least 125% more than a cross-sectional area of the main conduit at a narrower end of the frustoconical shape. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of treating bodily conduits at an area of a bifurcation, comprising the following steps:
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a. inserting a self-expanding stent through a conduit into the area of bifurcation and locating the stent partially in a main conduit and partially in a secondary conduit, the main conduit having an expanding frustoconical shape in the area of bifurcation, and the stent having an unconstrained fully expanded cross-sectional area of at least 125% more than a cross-sectional area of the main conduit at a narrower end of the frustoconical shape; b. allowing the stent to self-expand after the stent has been inserted at the area of bifurcation; c. positioning a separating means through a wall of the self-expanded stent at the area of bifurcation and applying a breaking force; and d. at least partially breaking the self-expanded stent into two stent sections by applying the breaking force at an area of separation of the stent at the area of the bifurcation, the area of separation having a number of bridge structures that form separable junctions that are capable of being broken by the breaking force, and allowing at least one of the stent sections to further self-expand to conform to a shape of the main conduit and/or to a shape of the secondary conduit at the area of bifurcation. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method for the treatment of a bodily lumen at an area of bifurcation of said lumen where a main conduit of said lumen transitions into at least two secondary conduits, the method comprising the steps:
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a. inserting a stent through said lumen into the area of bifurcation and locating the stent partially in the main conduit and partially in a said secondary conduit with a bend in the stent of at least 10 degrees between a portion of the stent positioned within the main conduit and another portion of the stent positioned within the secondary conduit, the stent being configured with a plurality of bridge structures that form separable junctions, wherein; the main conduit has an expanding frustoconical shape in the area of bifurcation, and the stent has an unconstrained fully expanded cross-sectional area of at least 125% more than a cross-sectional area of the main conduit at a narrower end of the frustoconical shape; b. causing the stent to expand after the stent has been inserted at the area of bifurcation; c. positioning a separating means through a wall of the expanded stent at the area of bifurcation and applying a breaking force; and d. at least partially breaking the expanded stent into two stent sections by applying the breaking force to the stent at the area of bifurcation, thereby breaking at least one of the plurality of bridge structures and causing the stent sections to further expand to respectively conform to a shape of the main conduit and to a shape of the secondary conduit at the area of bifurcation. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A device allowing treatment of bodily conduits at an area of a bifurcation, the device comprising:
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a self-expanding stent capable of having a first state of expansion in which the stent has a first cross-sectional area and a second state of expansion in which the stent has a second cross-sectional area larger than said first cross-sectional area; said stent having a plurality of areas of separation, each said plurality of areas of separation comprising a plurality of bridge structures that form separable junctions, by which a medial portion of the stent is maintained in the first state of expansion when longitudinal ends of the stent are maintained in the first state of expansion; and a separator configured to apply a breaking force; wherein; the separator and the stent are configured to permit the separator to be introduced through a wall of the stent at one or more of the plurality of areas of separation when the stent is at least partially self-expanded and to exert the breaking force on the wall of the stent sufficient to break at least one of said bridge structures that form the separable junctions of said one or more of the plurality of areas of separation and break the self-expanded stent into two stent sections at said one or more of the plurality of areas of separation and to allow at least one of said stent sections to further self-expand to said second state of expansion and conform to a shape of a main conduit and/or to a shape of a secondary conduit at the area of the bifurcation, the main conduit has an expanding frustoconical shape in the area of bifurcation, and the second cross-sectional area is at least 125% more than a cross-sectional area of the main conduit at a narrower end of the frustoconical shape. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. A method for the treatment of a bodily lumen at an area of bifurcation with a self-expanding stent having a plurality of areas of separation spaced along a longitudinal direction of the stent, each of the areas of separation having a plurality of bridge structures that form separable junctions spaced circumferentially around the respective area of separation, the method comprising the following steps:
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a. inserting the self-expanding stent through a conduit into the area of bifurcation and locating the stent partially in a main conduit and partially in a secondary conduit, the main conduit having an expanding frustoconical shape in the area of bifurcation, and the stent having an unconstrained fully expanded cross-sectional area of at least 125% more than a cross-sectional area of the main conduit at a narrower end of the frustoconical shape; b. allowing the stent to self-expand after the stent has been inserted at the area of bifurcation; c. positioning a separating means through a wall of the self-expanded stent at one of the plurality of areas of separation located at the area of bifurcation, the separating means configured to apply a breaking force; d. breaking one or more of the bridge structures that form the separable junctions within the area of separation located at the area of bifurcation by applying the breaking force, the stent being divided into two stent sections extending from the area of bifurcation; and e. allowing at least one of the two stent sections to further self-expand after one or more of the separable junctions have been broken, wherein the plurality of separable junctions, at areas of separation other than at the area of bifurcation, remain connected.
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Specification