Expandable stent and method for delivery of same

Abstract

An expandable stent having a proximal end and a distal end in communication with one another, and a tubular wall disposed between the proximal end and the distal end. The tubular wall has a longitudinal axis and a porous surface defined by a plurality of intersecting members comprising a series of longitudinal struts disposed substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the stent. Each longitudinal strut in the series comprises flexure members for substantially complementary extension and compression of a diametrically opposed pair of the longitudinal struts upon flexure of the stent. The flexure members may comprise first and second curved sections which are of a different size. At least one of the curved sections may comprise an arc of greater than about 180°.

Description

[0001]This is a continuation application of application Ser. No. 11 / 831,693, filed Jul. 31, 2007, which is a continuation application of application Ser. No. 11 / 419,895, filed May 23, 2006 (abandoned), which is a continuation application of application Ser. No. 10 / 849,990 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,094,255, issued Aug. 22, 2006), filed May 21, 2004, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09 / 672,768 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,758,860, issued Jul. 6, 2004), which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09 / 142,509, filed Feb. 18, 1999 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,506, issued Feb. 6, 2001), which is a 371 of PCT / CA97 / 00152), filed Mar. 5, 1997 (designating the U.S.; and published in English as WO 97 / 32544 on Sep. 12, 1997), which claims benefit of (i) CA 2,171,047, filed Mar. 5, 1996, (ii) CA 2,175,722, filed May 3, 1996, (iii) CA 2,185,740, filed Sep. 17, 1996, and (iv) CA 2,192,520, filed Dec. 10, 1996, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]The pre...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides an improved expandable stent that overcomes the shortcomings of prior art stents. The stent has a porous surface with a plurality of intersecting members, and a flexure means is used in the longitudinal struts to provide lateral flexibility and radial rigidity. The flexure means allows the stent to have a balance of lateral flexibility and radial rigidity, making it more suitable for implantation. The flexure means can be a sinusoidal or S-shaped section, which improves the lateral flexibility and mitigates longitudinal shortening of the stent upon expansion. The stent can be expanded from a first, contracted position to a second, expanded position."

Problems solved by technology

The self-expanding stents were found by some investigators to be deficient since, when deployed, they could place undue, permanent stress on the walls of the body passageway.

Further, upon expansion, the stent would shorten in length in an unpredictable fashion thereby reducing the reliability of the stent.

This led to the development of various stents which were controllably expandable at the target body passageway so that only sufficient force to maintain the patency of the body passageway was applied in expanding the stent.

Further, implantation of the stent disclosed in the '997 application can be difficult in certain situations where the unexpanded stent must travel through a significantly curved pathway to the target body passageway.

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