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US 2012/0071961 A1Published application
Stent With Hollow Drug-Eluting Elements
AssigneeMedtronic Vascular, Inc.
InventorRyan Bienvenu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A stent includes a plurality of cylindrical elements joined along a common longitudinal axis to form a tube. The cylindrical elements include struts joined by crowns. Hollow, drug-eluting elements are disposed between adjacent cylindrical elements and connect adjacent cylindrical elements to each other. A therapeutic substance fills the lumen of the drug-eluting elements, and openings in the walls of the drug-eluting elements allow elution of therapeutic substance from the lumen for treatment of a vessel.
Claims20
A stent comprising:
- a plurality of generally cylindrical elements aligned generally along a common longitudinal axis, wherein the plurality of cylindrical elements includes at least a first cylindrical element having a plurality of first struts connected together by a plurality of first crowns and a second cylindrical element adjacent to the first cylindrical element and having a plurality second struts connected together by a plurality of second crowns;
- and
- a hollow element connected to the first cylindrical element and connected to the second cylindrical element, wherein the hollow element includes a therapeutic substance disposed within a lumen of the hollow element, and wherein the hollow element includes at least one opening through a wall of the hollow element.
A method of forming a stent comprising the steps of:
- forming a plurality of cylindrical elements, wherein each cylindrical element includes a plurality of struts connected together by a series of crowns;
- forming a plurality of hollow elements;
- forming at least one opening through a wall of the hollow elements;
- filling a lumen of the hollow elements with a therapeutic substance;
- and
- connecting the hollow elements between the plurality of cylindrical elements such that ends of each hollow element are connected to adjacent cylindrical elements and such that the cylindrical elements are connected together and aligned generally along a common longitudinal axis to form the stent.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.