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US 2014/0155986 A1Published application
Intravascular stent
AssigneeAbbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc.
InventorsStephen D. Ainsworth, E Tina Cheng, James M. Jacobs
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention is directed to an expandable stent for implanting in a body lumen, such as a coronary artery, peripheral artery, or other body lumen. The invention provides for a an intravascular stent having a plurality of cylindrical rings connected by undulating links. The stent has a high degree of flexibility in the longitudinal direction, yet has adequate vessel wall coverage and radial strength sufficient to hold open an artery or other body lumen.
Claims6
1-76. (canceled)
A method of expanding a longitudinally flexible stent without stent shortening, comprising:
- providing a plurality of cylindrical rings interconnected by a plurality of undulating links, each of the undulating links having bends connected by straight portions;
- aligning the straight portions of the undulating links perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the stent and parallel to a circumferential direction of expansion;
- expanding the cylindrical rings in the circumferential direction of expansion so that the rings expand radially outwardly while the bends in the undulating links remain unexpanded thereby preventing the stent from foreshortening during expansion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.