Radiopaque marker for bioresorbable stents

Abstract

The present patent application relates to a method of applying a radiopaque marker to a tubular stent. A radiopaque marker for a tubular stent is constructed of a radiopaque material and configured with a roof portion and a pair of wall portions extending approximately perpendicular to the roof portion. The radiopaque marker is applied to a tubular stent by a method including the steps of forming the tubular stent with a pair of openings through a wall of the tubular stent; inserting the wall portions of the radiopaque marker into the openings in the wall of the tubular stent; and heat treating the tubular stent to retain the wall portions of the radiopaque marker within the openings in the wall of the tubular stent. The heat treating step also embeds the roof portion of the radiopaque marker onto the wall of the tubular stent. The method of the invention is particularly adapted for applying a radiopaque marker to a bioresorbable polymeric vascular stent.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.