Procedures for introducing stents and stent-grafts

Abstract

This invention is a medical device and a method of using it. The device is a foldable stent or stent-graft which may be percutaneously delivered with (or on) a catheter, typically an endovascular catheter, to a body cavity or lumen and then expanded. The stent's configuration allows it to be folded or otherwise compressed to a very small diameter prior to deployment without changing the length of the stent. The deployment procedures may involve the use of an outer sleeve to maintain the stent or stent-graft at a reduced diameter or may involve one or more external or internal “slip-lines” or “tether wires” to hold and then to release the device. A removal slip line for holding the stent in the deployable configuration can be woven along longitudinal fold line using the sack knot.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.