Stent with deflecting connector

• US 9,907,640 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2014
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Boston Scientific Scimed (Boston Scientific Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Boston Scientific Scimed (Boston Scientific Corporation)
• Inventors: Seddon, Dane T., Ross, Daniel, Doran, Burns P., Fleury, Sean P., Wood, Mark D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Anderson, Gregory
• Application Number:
  US14/310,481
• Publication Number:
  US 20140379080A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,355 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/04 Hollow or tubular parts of organs, e.g. bladders, tracheae, bronchi or bile ducts A61F2/18, A61F2/20 take precedence; devices, other than stent-grafts, providing patency to, or preventing collapsing of, tubular structures of the body other than stent-grafts, e.g. stents A61F2/82; instruments specially adapted for placement or removal of stents or stent-grafts A61F2/95
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/91 made from perforated sheet material or tubes, e.g. perforated by laser cuts or etched holes
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/915 with bands having a meander structure, adjacent bands being connected to each other
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/046 Tracheae
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/91575 connected peak to trough

Abstract

This disclosure is directed primarily to a stent for use in the trachea. The stent has a nominally deployed state, an axially extended state and an axially compressed state. The stent has a length. In the axially extended state, the length is at least 20% greater than in the nominally deployed state.

Claims

1. A stent having a nominally deployed state, an axially extended state, and an axially compressed state, the stent having a length, in the axially extended state the length being at least 20% greater than in the nominally deployed state, wherein the stent is configured to axially extend from the nominally deployed state to the axially extended state without altering a deployed diameter of the stent;

wherein the stent comprises strut columns and connector columns, the connector columns alternating with the strut columns along the length of the stent, wherein the strut columns comprise columnar struts interconnected by alternating peaks and troughs;

the connector columns comprising connector struts, the connector struts comprising a first axial segment connected to a first strut column, a second axial segment connected to an adjacent strut column, and a circumferential segment extending from the first axial segment to the second axial segment;

wherein at least one peak and at least one trough are disposed circumferentially between the first axial segment and the second axial segment of each connector strut.

2. The stent of claim 1, wherein each circumferential segment within each connector column extends in a single circumferential direction from the first axial segment to the second axial segment of the corresponding connector column.

3. A stent having a nominally deployed state, an axially extended state, and an axially compressed state, the stent having a length, in the axially extended state the length being at least 20% greater than in the nominally deployed state, wherein the stent is configured to axially extend from the nominally deployed state to the axially extended state without altering a deployed diameter of the stent;

wherein the stent comprises strut columns having alternating peaks and troughs, and connector columns alternating with the strut columns and extending between adjacent strut columns;

wherein the connector columns comprise connector struts, the connector struts of each connector column comprising a first axial segment connected to a peak of one strut column, a second axial segment connected to a peak of an adjacent strut column, and a circumferential segment extending continuously in a single circumferential direction from the first axial segment to the second axial segment.

4. The stent of claim 3, wherein the stent is laser cut.

5. The stent of claim 3, wherein at least one trough is disposed circumferentially between the first axial segment and the second axial segment of each connector strut.

6. A stent having a nominally deployed state, an axially extended state, and an axially compressed state, the stent comprising:

a plurality of strut columns and a plurality of connector columns connecting adjacent strut columns, the connector columns comprising connector struts, the connector struts comprising a first axial segment, a second axial segment, and a circumferential segment, the first axial segment and the second axial segment extending from the circumferential segment, the circumferential segment disposed between the first and second axial segments;

the first axial segment and the circumferential segment defining a first angle therebetween and the second axial segment and the circumferential segment defining a second angle therebetween, wherein;

when the stent is in the nominally deployed state the first angle is between 90 and 115 degrees and the second angle is between 90 degrees and 115 degrees;

when the stent is in the axially extended state the first angle is between 125 and 180 degrees and the second angle is between 125 and 180 degrees;

when the stent is in the axially compressed state, the first angle and second angle are less than when the stent is in the nominally deployed state; and

wherein the stent is configured to axially extend from the nominally deployed state to the axially extended state without altering a deployed diameter of the stent; and

wherein the stent has a length that is at least 20% greater in the axially extended state than in the nominally deployed state;

wherein each strut column includes columnar struts interconnected by alternating peaks and troughs;

the circumferential segment of each connector strut extending in a circumferential direction across at least one trough of a first one of the strut columns and at least one peak of an adjacent one of the strut columns such that the at least one trough and the at least one peak are disposed circumferentially between the first axial segment and the second axial segment of the connector strut.

7. The stent of claim 6, wherein the connector struts extend between adjacent strut columns in a peak-to-trough configuration.

8. The stent of claim 6, wherein the stent is a tracheal stent.

9. The stent of claim 6, wherein the length is at least 40% greater in the axially extended state than in the nominally deployed state.

10. The stent of claim 6, wherein the stent is formed from a shape-memory metal.

11. The stent of claim 6, wherein at least one of the plurality of strut columns is formed from a material different than at least one of the other strut columns.

12. The stent of claim 6, wherein the stent is self-expanding.

13. The stent of claim 6, wherein the stent is balloon-expandable.

14. The stent of claim 6, further comprising a radiopaque coating.

15. The stent of claim 6, wherein the stent is laser cut.

16. The stent of claim 6, wherein the connector struts deflect when the stent is in the axially extended state and an axially compressed state.

17. The stent of claim 6, wherein the circumferential segment of each connector strut extends in the circumferential direction across at least one trough of the first one of the strut columns and at least two peaks of the adjacent one of the strut columns.

18. The stent of claim 6, wherein each circumferential segment within each connector column extends in a single circumferential direction from the first axial segment to the second axial segment of the corresponding connector column.

19. The stent of claim 18, wherein the circumferential segments within adjacent connector columns extend from the first axial segment to the second axial segment of their respective connector column in generally opposite circumferential directions.

20. The stent of claim 6, wherein the first angle faces in a first direction and the second angles faces in a second direction, the first direction being generally opposite the second direction.