To provide a stent having controlled shortening properties, excellent flexibility in the delivery and deployed configurations, and/or other desirable properties.
An improved stent configuration (20) is disclosed that employs a series of helically oriented expansion elements (22a, 22b, 22c) encircling the stent. Each of the expansion elements includes a stepped pattern employing two distinct pitch angles(30, 36). The expansion elements are oriented to cooperate with each other to form a series of virtual radially expandable rings (40), and the virtual radially expandable rings (40) provide suitable outward force for proper stent function, but which are not connected together to form a continuous coherent ring if separated from the stent as a whole. In this manner, a distinctive stent configuration is provided that has numerous functional benefits over stents described in the conventional art.
VONESH MICHAEL J
| JPH10155915A | 1998-06-16 | |||
| JP2002224223A | 2002-08-13 | |||
| JP2001526562A | 2001-12-18 | |||
| JP2002513311A | 2002-05-08 |
Jun Tsuruta
Tetsuro Shimada
Shinozaki Masami
Tanimitsu Masaharu
Yasushi Ohashi