Striped sleeve for stent delivery

A stent retaining sleeve for retaining stent ends on a balloon catheter comprising:

• a tubular member composed of a first material and at least one substantially longitudinally oriented stripe of a second material, wherein the first material has a predetermined hardness and the second material has a predetermined hardness, the predetermined hardness of the second material being greater than the predetermined hardness of the first material;
• the tubular member having a first end and a second end, the first end constructed and arranged to overlay an end of a stent, the second end constructed and arranged to be in contact with at least a portion of said balloon catheter;
• the first end of the tubular member having an unexpanded diameter and an expanded diameter whereby when the balloon catheter is expanded the unexpanded diameter increases by up to 400 percent to the expanded diameter.

A stent delivery system comprising:

• a catheter including a stent mounting region;
• a stent disposed about the stent mounting region of the catheter, the stent having a distal end and a proximal end, the stent further having a unexpanded state and an expanded state, and
• at least one stent retaining sleeve, the at least one stent retaining sleeve having a first end and a second end, the first end overlying an end of the stent when the stent is in the unexpanded state, the second end engaged to at least a portion of the catheter adjacent to the stent mounting region, the at least one stent retaining sleeve comprising a first material and at least one substantially longitudinally oriented stripe of a second material, wherein the first material has a durometer hardness value in a range of approximately 40A to 100A, and the at least one substantially longitudinally oriented stripe of a second material has a durometer hardness value in a range of at least 40D to 75D.