Intraluminal stents for treating benign prostatic hyperplasia

A device for maintaining patency of a prostatic urethra, comprising:

• a stent comprising a proximal end, a distal end, and a passageway therebetween configured to facilitate flow of body fluids therebetween, the stent further comprising a plurality of longitudinal and angled struts and nodes, each longitudinal strut coupled to at least one angled strut at a corresponding node, the struts and nodes coupled to each other to form a plurality of cells, circumferentially adjacent cells forming stent regions, the stent further comprising a nose region extending from and including the stent distal end, a body region, and a tail region extending from and including the stent proximal end, wherein the body region extends between the nose and tail regions, the stent configured to expand from a compressed configuration to an expanded configuration within a bodily lumen;
• and
• a catheter, wherein the stent is mounted on the catheter such that the stent proximal end and tail region are configured to be released first from the catheter when deployed, and such that the stent distal end and nose region are configured to be released last from the catheter when deployed;
• wherein the stent further comprises a collapsibility gradient along its length such that it provides a nose region radial force at the nose region, a body region radial force at the body region, and a tail region radial force at the tail region, wherein the nose region radial force is less than the tail region radial force, and the tail region radial force is less than the body region radial force.