Stent with optimal strength and radiopacity characteristics

A stent in the form of a thin-walled, multi-cellular, tubular structure formed from tubing having two co-axial layers, a first layer and a second layer, the second layer being more radiopaque under fluoroscopy than the first layer, the stent comprising a multiplicity of circumferential sets of strut members, each set of strut members being longitudinally separated each from the other and connected each to the other by one or more longitudinally extending flexible links, each set of strut members forming a closed, cylindrical portion of the stent, each set of strut members comprising a multiplicity of connected curved sections and diagonal sections, the sets of strut members including end sets of strut members located at each end of the stent and central sets of strut members positioned between the end sets of strut members, the end sets of strut members having greater wall thickness of the second layer as compared to the thickness of the second layer on the central sets of strut members thereby increasing the radiopacity of the end sets of strut members as compared to the radiopacity of the central sets of strut members.