Method of manufacturing a device to dilate ducts in vivo
OwnerTakashi Susawa, Keiji Ioaki +4inventors
InventorsTakashi Susawa, Keiji Ioaki, Hideo Tamai, Yoshihiko Shimizu, Kaneto Shiraki, Akihiro Sato
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Abstract
A device for dilating ducts in vivo, comprising a balloon-tipped catheter to which a cylindrical stent prepared by knitting or braiding or weaving biodegradable fibers to easily reduce diameter of the cylinder to a predetermined value is attached in a compressed condition, method for preparing the device and a stent.
Claims16
A method for manufacturing a device for dilating ducts in vivo by application of pressure by a balloon-tipped catheter, comprising the steps of:
- providing a cylindrical stent prepared by forming biodegradable fibers by a procedure selected from the group consisting of knitting or braiding or weaving;
- thermally setting said stent to a diameter corresponding to a diameter of an inflated balloon of a balloon-tipped catheter, subsequently reducing the diameter of the stent in a compressed fashion to one permitting reception on the balloon of said balloon-tipped catheter when deflated by inserting the stent into a tube whose diameter is smaller than the diameter of the stent, thermally setting said stent at said compressed diameter, and attaching the compressed stent to the balloon-tipped catheter.
A method for making a device for dilating ducts in vivo, comprising the steps of:
- providing a reduceable and expandable generally tubular stent formed of biodegradable fibers selected from the group consisting of knitted, braided and woven fibers and being of an initial length and an initial diameter,
- conducting a first thermal setting step by thermally setting said stent to a diameter different than said initial diameter,
- contracting said stent to reduce its diameter to one less than said initial diameter, and
- conducting a second thermal setting step by thermally setting said stent of reduced diameter at a temperature lower than that at which said first thermal setting step is conducted, whereby said thermally set reduced diameter stent is expandable from said reduced diameter by the application of a pressure from inside the stent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.