# US 10,478,325 B2 · Apparatus and method for proximal to distal stent deployment > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,478,325 B2 - Document ID: US10478325B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/458,845 - Filed: 2017-03-14 - Published: 2017-06-29 - Granted: 2019-11-19 - Earliest claimed: 2015-04-09 - Assignees: Mubin I. Syed - Applicants: Mubin I. Syed - Inventors: Mubin I. Syed - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10478325B2 ## CPC - A61F 2/9661: {the proximal portion of the stent or stent-graft is released first} - A61F 2002/9665: {with additional retaining means} - A61F 2230/0069: cylindrical - A61F: FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS (dental prosthetics A61C) ## Abstract Methods and devices for delivering a stent in a proximal to distal fashion are disclosed. The delivery device includes a sheath catheter, an outer catheter and an inner catheter over a guide wire. A crimped stent is positioned over the distal end of the outer catheter and is held in place by a lubricous elastic membrane attached to a retractable ring. The retractable ring is connected to pull wires and slidably deployed between the inner and outer catheters. The proximal end of the stent is aligned at the treatment location, and the lubricous elastic membrane is pulled back into the space between inner catheter and outer catheter, releasing and deploying the stent from its proximal to its distal end. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A stent deployment system comprising: an expandable stent crimped on a catheter; a lubricous elastic membrane removably covering the stent, the lubricous elastic membrane having a proximal end and a distal end; a ring slidably deployed within the catheter, the ring attached to the distal end of the lubricous elastic membrane; a plurality of pull wires connected to the ring, for retracting the ring and the lubricous elastic membrane within the catheter. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, further comprising a sheath catheter, the catheter slideably movable within the sheath catheter. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, further comprising a guide wire. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pull wires comprises at least two pull wires. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, further comprising a pull mechanism connected to a proximal end of each of the plurality of pull wires for applying a pullback force for retracting the ring and the lubricous elastic membrane within the catheter. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the lubricous elastic membrane is invertible. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The stent deployment system of claim 1, wherein the stent is positioned such that a proximal edge of the stent is aligned to a treatment location. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The stent deployment system of claim 7, wherein the stent is positioned using X-ray imaging. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The stent deployment system of claim 8, wherein the stent is positioned by any of the known stent delivery visualization techniques that includes X-ray imaging. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) A method of using the deployment system of claim 1 to deploy a stent in a proximal-to-distal fashion. ### Claim 11 A method comprising: delivering a stent deployment device to a treatment location, the stent deployment device comprising a catheter, a stent attached to the catheter, a membrane covering the stent, a ring attached to a distal end of the membrane, and a plurality of pull wires attached to the ring and extending through a space within the catheter; aligning a proximal edge of the stent to the treatment location; and retracting the ring and the membrane into the space within the catheter using the plurality of pull wires to expand the stent from its proximal end to its distal end. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the membrane covers and retains the stent in a crimped state over the catheter prior to retraction. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the ring and the plurality of pull wires pull the membrane to retract the membrane from over the stent. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein retraction of the ring inverts and invaginates the membrane. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, further comprising: sliding the catheter out from within a sheath catheter to expose the stent with the membrane covering the stent before deploying the stent. ### Claim 16 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, further comprising: forming a small opening in the groin region of the patient to gain access to the femoral artery; and inserting a guidewire into the femoral artery. ### Claim 17 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, further comprising: advancing a tip of a guidewire to the treatment location; and anchoring the guidewire at the treatment location. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein the guidewire is advanced using X-ray imaging. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein the stent deployment device is delivered to the treatment location over the guidewire. ### Claim 20 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the proximal edge of the stent is aligned to the treatment location using any of known stent delivery visualization techniques that include X-ray imaging. ### Claim 21 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein a pull mechanism is used to apply a pull force to the plurality of pull wires to retract the ring and the membrane. ### Claim 22 (depends on 21) The method of claim 21, wherein the pull force applied to the ring is uniform. ### Claim 23 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, further comprising: removing the stent deployment device, leaving the stent accurately deployed in place within the body lumen.