Fiber reinforced composite stents
OwnerBin Huang, David Gale +6inventors
InventorsBin Huang, David Gale, Srinivasan Sridharan, Joseph Callol, Klaus Kleine, Syed Hossainy, Timothy Limon, Anthony Abbate
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Abstract
Polymeric composite stents reinforced with fibers for implantation into a bodily lumen are disclosed.
Claims164
A method of making a stent comprising:
- forming a mixture comprising a matrix polymer and a plurality of short fibers, the fibers comprising a material having a melting temperature greater than a melting temperature of the matrix polymer;
- disposing the mixture in a tube or sheet forming apparatus to form a tube or a sheet, wherein the apparatus is heated so that a temperature of the mixture in the apparatus is greater than the melting temperature of the matrix polymer and less than the melting temperature of the material of the fibers such that at least a portion of the matrix polymer is a polymer melt;
- and
- fabricating a stent from the tube or sheet comprising the matrix polymer and the short fibers.
A method of making a stent comprising:
- forming a tube comprising at least one fiber layer and at least one polymer film layer, fibers of at least one fiber layer comprising a material having a melting temperature greater than a melting temperature of at least one polymer film layer;
- heating the tube to a temperature greater than the melting temperature of at least one polymer film layer and less than the melting temperature of the material of the fibers to melt at least a portion of the polymer of at least one polymer film layer, at least a portion of at least one fiber layer becoming embedded within at least a portion of the melted polymer of at least one polymer film layer;
- cooling the heated tube;
- and
- fabricating a stent from the cooled tube.
A method of making a stent comprising:
- forming a layered sheet comprising at least one fiber layer and at least one polymer film layer, fibers of at least one fiber layer comprising a material having a melting temperature greater than a melting temperature of at least one polymer film layer;
- heating the layered sheet to a temperature greater than the melting temperature of at least one polymer film layer and less than the melting temperature of the material of the fibers to melt at least a portion of the polymer of at least one polymer film layer, at least a portion of the fibers becoming embedded within at least a portion of the melted polymer of at least one polymer film layer;
- cooling the heated layered sheet;
- and
- fabricating a stent from the cooled sheet.
A method of making a stent comprising:
- forming a coating layer comprising a coating polymer over a tube-shaped fiber layer comprising a plurality of fibers, wherein the coating layer is formed by applying a fluid comprising the coating polymer dissolved in a solvent and by removing all or a majority of the solvent from the applied fluid, the fibers comprising a material being insoluble or having a relatively low solubility in the solvent, the material comprising a melting temperature greater than a melting temperature of the coating polymer;
- and
- fabricating a stent from the coated fiber layer.
A method of making a stent comprising:
- disposing a plurality of fibers within a mold for forming a structure;
- disposing a matrix polymer that is partially or completely molten into the mold to at least partially embed the fibers within the molten polymer, the fiber comprising a material having a melting temperature greater than a melting temperature of the matrix polymer, wherein a temperature of the matrix polymer and the fibers in the mold is less than the melting temperature of the fiber material;
- cooling the molten polymer to form the structure;
- and
- fabricating a stent from the cooled structure.
A method of making a stent comprising:
- disposing a plurality of fibers in an extruder for forming a structure;
- conveying a matrix polymer into the extruder, the fibers comprising a material having a melting temperature greater than a melting temperature of the matrix polymer;
- forming the structure with the extruder at a temperature greater than the melting temperature of the matrix polymer and less than the melting temperature of the material, wherein at least some of the fibers becoming embedded within the matrix polymer;
- and
- fabricating a stent from the cooled structure.
A method of making a stent comprising:
- heating a fiber mesh tube comprising two types of fibers, a first fiber comprising a first polymer and the second fiber comprising a second polymer, the first polymer having a softening temperature lower than a softening temperature of the second polymer, wherein the tube is heated to a temperature range between the softening temperature of the first polymer and the softening temperature of the second polymer;
- and
- applying pressure to the tube so as to flatten at least some of the fibers of the tube to reduce a radial profile of the tube.
A method of making a stent comprising:
- heating a fiber mesh tube, at least some of the fibers of the tube comprising a first polymer and a second polymer, the first polymer having a softening temperature lower than a softening temperature of the second polymer, wherein the tube is heated to a temperature range between the softening temperature of the first polymer and the softening temperature of the second polymer;
- and
- applying pressure to the tube so as to flatten at least some of the fibers of the tube to reduce a radial profile of the tube.
A method of making a stent comprising:
- coupling a metallic film to at least a portion of a surface of a polymeric tube;
- and
- fabricating a stent from the tube with the metallic film so that the metallic film is over at least a portion of a surface of the stent.
A method of making a stent comprising:
- forming a tube having a metallic film in between two radial polymeric layers;
- and
- fabricating a stent from the tube.
A method of making a stent comprising:
- elongating a polymeric tube so that a diameter of the stent decreases;
- positioning a metallic band around a circumference of the elongated tube;
- heating the elongated polymeric tube with the metallic band positioned around the tube;
- allowing the heated tube to radially expand so as to couple the metallic band to the tube;
- and
- fabricating a stent from the expanded tube.
A radially expandable stent comprising a plurality of interconnecting structural elements, the structural elements comprising fibers at least partially embedded in a matrix polymer, the fibers including a material having a melting temperature greater than a melting temperature of the matrix polymer, the fibers configured to provide mechanical reinforcement to the stent due to a higher strength and modulus along an axis of the fibers than the matrix polymer.
A radially expandable stent comprising a plurality of interconnecting structural elements, the structural elements comprising at least one radial fiber layer and at least one radial polymer film layer, the fibers including material with a melting temperature greater than a melting temperature than at least one polymer film layer, at least one fiber layer being at least partially embedded within at least one polymer film layer, the fibers configured to provide mechanical reinforcement to the stent due to a higher strength and modulus along an axis of the fibers than the polymer film layer.
A radially expandable stent comprising a plurality of structural elements, the structural elements comprising at least two radial fiber layers and at least one radial polymer film layer, at least a portion of at least one fiber layer being embedded within at least a portion of at least one polymer film layer, wherein an orientation of fibers relative to a cylindrical axis of the stent of at least one fiber layer is different from an orientation of fibers in another fiber layer.
A radially expandable stent woven from at lease two types of fibers, a first fiber comprising a first polymer and the second fiber comprising a second polymer, the first polymer having a softening temperature lower than a softening temperature of the second polymer, wherein at least some of the fibers have a flattened radial profile that reduces the radial profile of the tube.
A radially expandable stent woven from fibers comprising a first polymer and a second polymer, the first polymer having a softening temperature lower than a softening temperature of the second polymer, wherein at least some of the fibers have a flattened radial profile that reduces the radial profile of the tube.
A radially expandable stent comprising metallic film coupled to a plurality of portions of a surface of the stent, wherein the metallic film is sufficiently radiopaque to allow the stent to be visualized during use.
A radially expandable stent comprising a plurality of interconnecting structural elements, the structural elements having two radial polymeric layers with metallic film embedded in a plurality of locations in between the layers, and wherein the metallic film is sufficiently radiopaque to allow the stent to be visualized during use.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.