Stent-loading mechanism
AssigneeAdvanced Cardiovascular Systems, Inc.
InventorsMichael S. Williams, Lilip Lau, Farhad Khosravi, William Hartigan, Avegel Hernando
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Abstract
A stent-loading mechanism for loading a stent onto a balloon delivery catheter of the kind typically used in typical percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) procedures. The device comprises a series of plates having substantially flat and parallel surfaces that move in a rectilinear fashion with respect to each another. A stent carrying catheter can be disposed between these surfaces to affix the stent onto the outside of the catheter by relative motion between the plates. The plates have multiple degrees of freedom and may have force-indicating transducers to measure and indicate the force applied to the catheter during affixation of the stent.
Claims13
A stent-loading device for loading a stent onto a catheter comprising:
- a first substantially flat surface and a second substantially flat surface, said second flat surface being disposed substantially in parallel to said first flat surface and spaced therefrom a distance sufficient to allow a catheter having a stent disposed about its periphery to be received between said first and second surfaces;
- and
- means for allowing said surfaces to be forced toward one another while simultaneously allowing said surfaces to be shifted laterally relative one another for crimping the stent, disposed about the catheter and positioned between said first and second surfaces, onto the outside of the catheter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.