# US 10,864,097 B2 · Abdominal aortic aneurysms: systems and methods of use > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,864,097 B2 - Document ID: US10864097B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/141,322 - Filed: 2018-09-25 - Published: 2019-05-30 - Granted: 2020-12-15 - Earliest claimed: 2008-06-30 - Assignees: Bolton Medical, Inc. - Applicants: Bolton Medical, Inc. - Inventors: Humberto Berra; Bryan White; Timothy Lostetter; Scott L. Rush; John C. Canning - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10864097B2 ## CPC - A61F 2/95: Instruments specially adapted for placement or removal of stents or stent-grafts - A61F 2/064: {with special features to facilitate anastomotic coupling (anastomosis of natural blood vessels A61B17/11)} - A61F 2/07: Stent-grafts - A61F 2/848: having means for fixation to the vessel wall, e.g. barbs - A61F 2/89: the wire-like elements comprising two or more adjacent rings flexibly connected by separate members - A61F 2/966: with relative longitudinal movement between outer sleeve and prosthesis, e.g. using a push rod - A61M 39/06: Haemostasis valves, i.e. gaskets sealing around a needle, catheter or the like, closing on removal thereof - A61F 2/91: made from perforated sheets or tubes, e.g. perforated by laser cuts or etched holes - A61F 2/9517: {handle assemblies therefor} - A61F 2002/075: {the stent being loosely attached to the graft material, e.g. by stitching} - A61F 2002/8483: {Barbs} - A61F 2002/9505: {having retaining means other than an outer sleeve, e.g. male-female connector between stent and instrument} - A61F 2002/9511: {the retaining means being filaments or wires} - A61F 2002/9665: {with additional retaining means} - A61F 2210/0014: using shape memory or superelastic materials, e.g. nitinol - A61F 2210/0076: multilayered, e.g. laminated structures - A61F 2220/0008: Fixation appliances for connecting prostheses to the body - A61F 2220/0016: with sharp anchoring protrusions, e.g. barbs, pins, spikes - A61F 2220/0041: using additional screws, bolts, dowels or rivets, e.g. connecting screws - A61F 2220/0075: sutured, ligatured or stitched, retained or tied with a rope, string, thread, wire or cable - A61F 2230/0054: V-shaped - 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) - A61M: DEVICES FOR INTRODUCING MEDIA INTO, OR ONTO, THE BODY (introducing media into or onto the bodies of animals A61D7/00; means for inserting tampons A61F13/26; devices for administering food or medicines orally A61J; containers for collecting, storing or administering blood or medical fluids A61J1/05); DEVICES FOR TRANSDUCING BODY MEDIA OR FOR TAKING MEDIA FROM THE BODY (surgery A61B; chemical aspects of surgical articles A61L); DEVICES FOR PRODUCING OR ENDING SLEEP OR STUPOR {(Electrotherapy, e.g. producing anaesthesia by the use of alternating or intermittent currents A61N1/36021)} ## Abstract A method of releasing a bare stent of a stent graft includes moving a lumen, to which a proximal apex capture portion of an apex capture device is fixed, the proximal apex capture portion defining a radial restraint, along a major axis between a first position, in which tines of the proximal apex capture portion are mated with slots of a distal apex capture portion and overlie bosses extending radially from a major axis of the apex capture device, and a second position, in which the tines are not mated with the slots and do not overlie the bosses, to thereby release apices of a bare stent from a space defined by the tines, the bosses and the distal apex capture portion. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of releasing a bare stent of a stent graft, comprising the steps of moving a control lumen, to which a proximal apex capture portion of an apex capture device is fixed, the proximal apex capture portion defining pilot holes extending along a major axis of the lumen, from a first position, in which tines of the proximal apex capture portion are mated with a distal apex capture portion, and in which barbs extending distally from proximal apices of a bare stent of a stent graft are radially restrained by the pilot holes, and a second position, in which the tines are not mated with the distal apex capture portion, thereby releasing apices of a bare stent from a space defined at least in part by the tines and the distal apex capture portion, and releasing the barbs from radial restraint by the pilot holes. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the distal apex capture portion defines slots that mate with the tines of the proximal apex capture portion when the control lumen is in the first position. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the elongate member extends through the lumen. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the barbs each extend distally from a proximal apex of the bare stent. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, wherein the barbs are radially restrained by the pilot holes where the barbs extend from a bridge component of each respective proximal apex of the bare stent. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the tines overlie bosses extending radially from the major axis of the distal capture portion, whereby the space from which the distal apices are released is defined by the tines, the bosses, and the distal apex capture portion. ### Claim 7 A system for releasing a bare stent of a stent graft, comprising: a) a guidewire lumen having a proximal end and a distal end; b) a nose cone fixed to the distal end of the guidewire lumen, the nose cone having a proximal end and a distal end; c) a control lumen having a proximal end, a distal end, and a major axis, the control lumen extending circumferentially about the guidewire lumen and longitudinally moveable along the guidewire lumen; and d) an apex capture device, including i) a distal apex capture portion fixed to the guidewire lumen at the proximal end of the nose cone, and ii) a proximal apex capture portion fixed to the distal end of the control lumen, the proximal apex capture portion defining pilot holes and defining tines that extend distally from the remainder of the proximal apex capture portion and mate with distal capture portion when the control lumen is in a first position, and disengage from the distal capture portion when the control lumen is moved proximally along the guidewire lumen from the first position to a second position.