Controlled deployment of a medical device

A prosthesis delivery package comprising

• a balloon catheter having an inflatable inelastic balloon on its exterior, said balloon being inflatable by injection of fluid through a lumen in said catheter and having a length of about 8-12 cm, said balloon being initially partially radially constrained against inflation by a slidable constraint having a length less than the length of said balloon and constructed as a slidable low coefficient of friction polymeric sleeve surrounding a portion of said balloon, said constraint configured such that the injection of fluid into said balloon causes said sleeve to slide axially along said balloon, permitting progressive incremental inflation of said balloon, and
• a tubular prosthesis, having a length substantially corresponding to the length of said balloon, disposed on said catheter over at least a portion of said balloon and a portion of said constraint, said tubular prosthesis having a contracted condition and an expanded condition, said tubular prosthesis being initially disposed on said catheter in said contracted condition.