Selectively bonded stent assembly and method of manufacturing

A stent assembly comprising

• a. a stent formed by a network of struts, the stent having an internal surface and an external surface;
• and
• b. a fabric material covering at least a transverse section of at least one of the internal surface and the external surface, and bonded to the stent by a polymer binder that mediates between the fabric material and at least some struts of the network of struts to encapsulate the at least some struts and bind between the at least some struts and the fabric material at multiple binder-locations circumferentially-displaced along a circumference of the transverse section,
• wherein a loading force effective to compress the transverse section from an expanded state to a compressed state is a function of the fraction of the circumference occupied, in aggregate, by the multiple binder-locations, such that the effective loading force is reduced by at least 20% when the occupied fraction of the circumference is at least 10% and not more than 50%.

A stent assembly comprising

• a. a stent formed by a network of struts, the stent having an internal surface and an external surface;
• and
• b. a fabric material covering at least a transverse section of at least one of the internal surface and the external surface, and bonded to the stent by a polymer binder that mediates between the fabric material and at least some struts of the network of struts to bind therebetween,
• the stent assembly having a fully-expanded state in the absence of a radial constraint and a reduced-diameter state characterized by the stent being radially constrained to reduce a diameter of the stent by at least 50%, wherein when the stent assembly is in the reduced-diameter state, the fabric material covering the transverse section has an unfolded length along a circumference of the transverse section that is no more than 20% greater than a circumference of the covered transverse section.