Endovascular stent apparatus and method
AssigneeCordis Corporation
InventorRichard A. Hillstead
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A stent for reinforcing a vessel wall is constructed from a single elongated wire. The wire is first bent into a series of tight bends. The wire is then further bent into a sequence of loops that are connected by half hitch junctions and interconnections which are either aligned or spiral around a circumference of the stent. The completed stent forms a cylindrical form which can be expanded from a initial diameter to a larger implanted diameter by application of a radially outward force from a balloon catheter or the like.
Claims10
A stent for reinforcing a vessel within a subject comprising a cylindrical support dimensioned to fit within an interior of said vessel constructed from an elongated wire bent to define a series of relatively tightly spaced convolutions or bends, said wire also bent in the form of a plurality of loops spaced along an axial dimension of the stent and connected by a series of half hitch junctions where each of the plurality of loops includes a number of said regularly spaced convolutions around its circumference, said stent being radially expandable from a first outer diameter which fits within said vessel to a second increased diameter which contacts an inner wall surface of said vessel to reinforce said inner wall.
A method of fabricating a generally cylindrical stent for insertion into a body vessel comprising the steps of:
- (a) bending an elongated wire in a series of relatively tight convolutions or bends;
- (b) providing a cylindrical mandrel of a dimension smaller than an inner diameter of the vessel into which the stent is to be inserted;
- (c) wrapping the elongated wire around the mandrel to form a series of loop segments and interconnecting said loop segments by half hitch junctions and wire portions that connect successive loop segments along an axial dimension of the cylindrical mandrel;
- and
- (d) removing the elongated wire from the mandrel to define a throughpassage for fluid passage through the stent in a region occupied by the cylindrical mandrel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.