Medical device suitable for location in a body lumen

A method of stenting a body lumen, comprising:

• deploying and expanding a stent in a body lumen such that it is in a deployed, expanded configuration;
• and when the stent is in the deployed, expanded configuration:
• deforming the stent to a first loaded configuration when the body lumen bends to an unloaded state thereof;
• deforming the stent to a second loaded configuration when the body lumen bends to a loaded state thereof;
• and
• wherein the stent has an unloaded configuration intermediate the first and second loaded configurations and wherein in the unloaded and second loaded configurations at least part of the longitudinal axis of the stent is substantially helically shaped, wherein the amplitude of the helical longitudinal axis divided by the diameter of the stent is greater in the second loaded configuration than in the unloaded configuration.

A method of stenting a body lumen, comprising:

• deploying and expanding a stent in a body lumen, the body lumen being deformable between an unloaded state and a loaded state;
• wherein the stent is one which, after deployment and expansion, is deformable between a first loaded configuration and a second loaded configuration and has an unloaded configuration intermediate the first loaded configuration and the second loaded configuration;
• wherein in said unloaded configuration at least part of the longitudinal axis of the stent is curved;
• and wherein the deploying comprises deploying the stent in the body lumen so that when the stent is deformed through a curve angle of 45 degrees between the first loaded configuration and the second loaded configuration, the maximum strain in the stent, at any stage at or between the first and second loaded configurations, is less than or equal to 0.4%.