Combined shaped balloon and stent protector

A stent delivery catheter comprising:

• a catheter shaft;
• a balloon, the balloon being mounted to a distal portion of the catheter shaft, the balloon being inflatable to a first inflation state to a second inflation state, the balloon having a stent mounting region, and a pair of balloon regions adjacent to the stent mounting region, the pair of balloon regions comprising:
• a proximal adjacent region and a distal adjacent region, the stent mounting region having a stent mounting region diameter and each of the adjacent regions having an adjacent region diameter, in the first inflation state the stent mounting region diameter being less than the adjacent region diameter, in the second inflation state the stent mounting region diameter being no greater than the adjacent region diameter;
• a stent, the stent being disposed about at least a portion of the stent mounting region, the stent being expandable from an unexpanded state to a first stent expanded state, the stent further comprising a stent center, a first stent end and a second stent end;
• and
• a proximal stent retaining sleeve and a distal stent retaining sleeve, each of the stent retaining sleeves having a stent retaining portion and a catheter engagement portion, the stent retaining portion of the distal stent retaining sleeve being removingly disposed about the first stent end, the stent retaining portion of the proximal stent retaining sleeve being removably disposed about the second stent end, the catheter engagement portion of the distal stent retaining sleeve being engaged to a portion of the catheter shaft proximate to the distal adjacent region of the balloon, the catheter engagement portion of the proximal stent retaining sleeve being engaged to a portion of the catheter shaft proximate to the proximal adjacent region of the balloon, whereby when the balloon is inflated from the first inflation state to the second inflation state the at least one stent retaining sleeve is retracted off of the at least one end of the stent.

A stent delivery catheter comprising:

• a catheter shaft;
• a balloon, the balloon being mounted to a distal portion of the catheter shaft, the balloon being inflatable to a first inflation state, to a second inflation state, and to a third inflation state, the balloon having a stent mounting region and a pair of adjacent end regions, the stent mounting region having a stent mounting region diameter and the pair of end regions each having an end region diameter, in the first inflation state the stent mounting region diameter being less than the end region diameter, in the second inflation state the stent mounting region diameter being no greater than the end region diameter, in the third inflation state the stent mounting region diameter being greater than the end region diameter;
• and
• a stent, the stent being disposed about at least a portion of the stent mounting region, the stent being expandable from an unexpanded state to an expanded state, the stent further comprising a stent center, a first stent end and a second stent end.