Implantable medical device with biaxially oriented polymers

A biodegradable stent comprising:

• a cylindrically-shaped scaffold comprising a biodegradable polymer including a poly(L-lactide) based polymer, the scaffold being formed by cutting a pattern into a tube at a second diameter,
• wherein the scaffold includes a plurality of interconnecting struts,
• wherein the scaffold has induced molecular orientation in the circumferential direction induced by radially expanding the tube from a first diameter to the second diameter prior to cutting the pattern, the second diameter being larger than the first diameter,
• wherein the induced molecular orientation increases strength in the circumferential direction of the scaffold which increases a radial strength of the scaffold,
• wherein the tube is radially expanded at a temperature above a glass transition temperature (Tg) of the polymer at which an onset of segmental mobility of polymer segments occurs,
• wherein at the temperature of radial expanding polymer segments have sufficient segmental mobility to move past one another as the tube is radially expanded to achieve a degree of molecular orientation that cannot be achieved at a temperatures below the Tg at which there is no onset of segmental mobility of polymer segments,
• wherein the biodegradable polymer is semicrystalline and comprises crystalline domains and amorphous domains, both domains having the induced molecular orientation, and
• wherein the scaffold is radially expandable by a balloon in a blood vessel in a body from a crimped state to a deployed state and the increased radial strength enables the scaffold to hold open the blood vessel when radially expanded in the blood vessel by a balloon and the balloon withdrawn.