Bend-capable stent prosthesis

• US 9,364,353 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2013
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: C.R. Bard, Inc. (Becton, Dickinson & Co)
• Original Assignee: C.R. Bard, Inc. (Becton, Dickinson & Co)
• Inventors: Wack, Thilo
• Primary Examiner(s): Severson, Ryan J
• Application Number:
  US14/069,923
• Publication Number:
  US 20140067045A1
• Time in Patent Office: 956 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/844 folded prior to deployment
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/89 the wire-like elements comprising two or more adjacent rings flexibly connected by separate members
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/90 characterised by a net-like or mesh-like structure
• 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 2002/825 having longitudinal struts
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/91516 the meander having a change in frequency along the band
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/91525 within the whole structure different bands showing different meander characteristics, e.g. frequency or amplitude
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/91541 Adjacent bands are arranged out of phase
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/91558 connected peak to peak
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2210/0014 using shape memory or superelastic materials, e.g. nitinol
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2230/0054 V-shaped

Abstract

A stent is described, which includes a plurality of stenting rings, each stenting ring including a plurality of struts and points of inflection, each point of inflection connecting adjacent struts, the points of inflection of adjacent stenting rings facing each other along an axis parallel to a longitudinal axis of the stent in a radially expanded stenting disposition while the stent is in an unbent configuration. Adjacent stenting rings are connected by connectors extending from a point of inflection on one stenting ring to a facing point of inflection on another stenting ring, the connectors being linear along an entire length thereof and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the stent, each of the connectors having a length shorter than a length of each of the struts.

Claims

1. A stent comprising:

a plurality of stenting rings, each stenting ring including a plurality of struts and points of inflection, each point of inflection connecting adjacent struts, the points of inflection of adjacent stenting rings facing each other along an axis parallel to a longitudinal axis of the stent in a radially expanded stenting disposition while the stent is in an unbent configuration;

adjacent stenting rings connected by connectors extending from a point of inflection on one stenting ring to a facing point of inflection on another stenting ring, the connectors being linear along an entire length thereof and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the stent, each of the connectors having a length shorter than a length of each of the struts;

each stenting ring including connected points of inflection and unconnected points of inflection; and

wherein

each of at least one pair of the connected inflection points comprises two struts and an included angle wherein the included angle of one inflection point of the pair is larger than the included angle of the other inflection point of the pair

and

at least two adjacent stenting rings have equal numbers of points of inflection.

2. The stent according to claim 1, wherein the struts of each stenting ring have the same cross-section, the length of each of the struts is greater than 1.25 mm, and the length of each of the connectors is less than 1 mm.

3. The stent according to claim 2, wherein at least two of the struts in a stenting ring have an equal length, such that each of the points of inflection lie in one of two circles transverse to the longitudinal axis of the stent.

4. The stent according to claim 1, wherein the number of struts “

N”

of a stenting ring between circumferentially adjacent connectors is such that N/2 is an even number.

5. The stent according to claim 1, wherein the number of struts “

N”

of a stenting ring between circumferentially adjacent connectors is such that N/2 is an odd number and N is more than 10.

6. The stent according to claim 1, wherein longitudinal-ly adjacent connectors exhibit a helical path coaxial with the longitudinal axis from a first end of the stent to a second op-posing end of the stent.

7. The stent according to claim 1, comprising a shape memory alloy.

8. The stent according to claim 1, wherein the stent undergoes plastic deformation upon expansion to the radially expanded stenting disposition.

9. The stent according to claim 1, wherein the length of each of the connectors is not more than 0.8 mm.

10. The stent according to claim 1, wherein the length of each of the connectors is less than 0.6 mm.

11. The stent according to claim 1, wherein the length of each of the struts is in a range of from 1.3 mm to 2.2 mm.

12. The stent according to claim 1, wherein the length of each of the struts is in a range of from 1.4 mm to 2.0 mm.

13. The stent according to claim 1, wherein each of the stenting rings includes 32 struts.

14. The stent according to claim 1, wherein adjacent stenting rings are connected by four evenly spaced connectors.