345 results about "Self-expanding stent" patented technology

Medical devices, and in particular implantable medical devices, including self-expanding stents, may be coated to minimize or substantially eliminate a biological organism's reaction to the introduction of the medical device to the organism. The devices utilized to deliver the implantable medical devices may be modified to reduce the potential for damaging the implantable medical device during deployment.

A vascular implant for replacing a native heart valve comprises a self expanding stent supporting a valve body having leaflets. The stent preferably comprises an anchoring structure configured to prevent the implant from passing through the valve annulus. For delivery, the implant is compacted within a delivery device and secured at one end. During delivery the implant is partially released from the delivery device, and positioning of the implant is verified prior to full release. The implant can be at least partially resheathed and repositioned if desired.

The invention includes a medical device and more specifically relates to a valve found generally within a frame. In a preferred device, the frame preferably comprises a self-expanding stent frame, and the valve has at least one expandable and contractible pocket member within the stent frame for resisting and permitting fluid flow, respectively.

Methods for delivery and deploying a stent formed of a shape memory alloy to a desired position in a tubular area of the body, and / or for repositioning and / or retrieving a stent formed of a two-way shape memory alloy. An arrangement is provided by which the temperature of the stent is locally adjusted during delivery, repositioning and / or retrieval in a safe and controlled manner by engagement with an expandable and collapsible thermal transfer member situated on a catheter assembly.

An introducer for an expandable endovascular prosthesis having a self a self-expanding stent includes a proximal prosthesis positioning mechanism that has a retention device to retain the self-expanding stent and a control member to selectively release the retention device from the prosthesis. The retention device includes an opening forming a tapered cavity. The control member includes a plurality of loops coupled to the prosthesis and a trigger wire. The trigger wire passes through a first aperture of the retention device, through the plurality of loops, and through and a second aperture of the retention device to retain the loops.

A delivery apparatus for a self-expanding stent allows for ease of repositioning. The apparatus includes an outer sheath made from an elongated tubular member having distal and proximal ends, and an inner shaft located coaxially within the outer sheath. The shaft has a distal end and a proximal end. The shaft includes a removable member on an exterior surface thereof adjacent to its proximal end. The removable member being sized such that it prevents the sheath from sliding along the shaft proximal to the member until it is removed therefrom. Preferably, the distal end of the shaft further including at least two grooves disposed thereon. Preferably the apparatus includes a substantially cylindrical self-expanding stent located within the sheath. The self-expanding member having a proximal end, a distal end, a longitudinal axis extending therebetween and an interior. The self-expanding stent further including at least two spaced apart longitudinal legs having distal and proximal ends, the distal ends of the legs attached to the proximal end of the member. The legs extending proximally away from the member and each the leg including a flange adjacent its proximal end, wherein the flanges are set within the grooves of the inner shaft so as to releasably attach the stent to the inner shaft.

A multiple-sided medical device comprises a closed frame of a single piece of wire or other resilient material and having a series of bends and interconnecting sides. The device has both a flat configuration and a second, folded configuration that comprises a self-expanding stent. The stent is pushed from a delivery catheter into the lumen of a duct or vessel. One or more barbs are attached to the frame of the device for anchoring or to connect additional frames. A covering of fabric or other flexible material such as DACRON, PTFE, or collagen, is sutured or attached to the frame to form an occlusion device, a stent graft, or an artificial valve such as for correcting incompetent veins in the lower legs and feet. A partial, triangular-shaped covering over the lumen of the device allows the valve to open with normal blood flow and close to retrograde flow.

A self-expanding stent includes a plurality of segments having a collapsed configuration and an expanded configuration. Preferably, the segments are unconnected to each other in at least the expanded configuration. The segments include restraining structures that temporarily restrain them from expansion until activated. This allows the user to position the desired number of segments at a treatment site and to deploy them simultaneously, thereby avoiding misalignment, overlap, and excessive spacing between segments. In preferred embodiments, multiple segmented stents of user-selectable length may be deployed at multiple locations in a single intervention.

A self-expanding stent structure is provided having a main portion that expands to a first diameter and a branch portion that expands to a second diameter, different the first diameter, the main portion having a link portion that forms a flexible linkage to, and forms part of, the branch portion. The self-expanding structure may be compressed to a reduced diameter for delivery, and resumes an expanded diameter during deployment. The self-expanding stent structure also may be advantageously incorporated in an asymmetric stent-graft system. Methods of use are also provided, wherein the main portion of the self-expanding structure, when deployed in a trunk vessel, may be used to anchor the branch portion in a branch vessel.

Sealable and repositionable implant devices are provided to increase the ability of endovascular grafts and valves to be precisely deployed or re-deployed, with better in situ accommodation to the local anatomy of the targeted recipient anatomic site, and with the ability for post-deployment adjustment to accommodate anatomic changes that might compromise the efficacy of the implant. A surgical implant includes a self-expanding stent of a shape-memory material set to a given shape. The stent has a wall with a portion having a first thickness and a second portion having a thickness greater than the first. The second portion defines a key-hole shaped longitudinal drive orifice. The implant includes a selectively adjustable assembly having adjustable elements and being operable to force a configuration change in at least a portion of the self-expanding stent. The adjustable elements have a part rotatably disposed within the longitudinal drive orifice.

A method of performing a medical procedure is disclosed which involves the use of a balloon catheter in combination with an angioscope to monitor an intravascular stent before, during or after deploying the stent. Specifically, the method may include the steps of (1) delivering an intravascular stent into the vasculature of a patient, (2) positioning a balloon catheter in the vasculature such that the inflatable balloon is adjacent the stent, (3) inserting an angioscope into the balloon catheter such that the distal end of the angioscope is adjacent an optically-transparent tube traversing the interior of the balloon, and (4) visually monitoring the stent before, during or after deploying the intravascular stent. The optically-transparent tube may define a guide wire lumen for use with a guide wire and the angioscope may be inserted into the guide wire lumen. The intravascular stent may be a balloon-expandable stent, a self-expanding stent, or a stent made of a photo-responsive polymer.

A prosthetic valve delivery system for percutaneously delivering and deploying a prosthetic valve within an existing valve is disclosed. The delivery system includes a stented prosthetic valve having a balloon-expandable stent portion with a prosthetic valve disposed therein and at least one self-expanding stent portion. The delivery system further includes a dual balloon catheter having a first balloon on which the stented prosthetic valve is disposed during delivery and a second balloon. Upon delivery within the existing valve, the self-expanding stent portion contacts the existing valve and the first balloon expands the balloon-expandable stent portion to a first diameter such that the stented prosthetic valve is in a first stage deployment configuration. The second balloon then expands the balloon-expandable stent portion to a second diameter, greater than the first diameter, such that the stented prosthetic valve is in a second stage deployment configuration being fully deployed within the existing valve.

A stent or other intraluminal medical device may be constructed utilizing multiple, individual, independent, self-expanding stent segments which are designed to interlock when constrained within a delivery sheath and uncouple upon deployment. The individual segments are releasably connected by a series of bridging elements and receptacles.

The present invention provides a delivery device for self-expanding stent. The delivery device includes pipe head, inner pipe, near end controller, medium pipe, texturing tube, external protection apparatus, at least one locked coil and at least one stayguy. The external protection apparatus is a tearable external protection apparatus or a flexible connects collar hold-down mechanism or a stayguy hold-down mechanism. The present invention has a plenty of following advantages: to locate the stent rotarily, to fix the expanded stent effectively, to reduce the valvular abrasion of artificial cardiac stent, to reduce the abrasion of stayguy, to avoid the dislocation of stayguy and so on.

Methods of stabilizing the sacroiliac joint by placing an expandable device in the joint to generate laterally opposing forces against the iliac and sacral surfaces of the SI joint to securely seat the device in a plane generally parallel to the SI joint. The expandable device is coated with or otherwise contains a bone material to promote fusion of the joint. The expandable device used in methods of the present invention can be, for example, an expandable cage, a balloon, a balloon-expandable stent or a self-expanding stent.

A method of assembling of a stent graft (20) including temporarily diameter reduction arrangements to enable partial release of a stent graft to assist with positioning before complete release. The diameter reduction arrangement includes a release wire (72) and flexible threads (74, 80) extending to struts (76) of a self expanding stent (70) either side of the release wire and being pulled tight. Removal of the release wire enables full expansion of the self expanding stent.

Apparatus for delivering and deploying a stent formed of a shape memory alloy to a desired position in a tubular area of the body, and / or for repositioning and / or retrieving a stent formed of a two-way shape memory alloy. An arrangement is provided by which the temperature of the stent is locally adjusted during delivery, repositioning and / or retrieval in a safe and controlled manner by engagement with an expandable and collapsible thermal transfer member situated on a catheter assembly.

The present invention relates to a method and device (1) for releasing into the body from a delivery system a medical prosthesis mounted on the delivery system and held by a constraint (16) in a constrained delivery disposition. The device comprises a first abutment (28) for the delivery system, a second abutment (18) for an elongate element (30) to connect the device to the prosthesis constraint, a track (14) for the second abutment (18) to advance along, from a starting point corresponding to constraint of the prosthesis, to a finishing point corresponding to separation of the prosthesis and constraint (16), ratchet means (38) to advance the second abutment (18) progressively, from the starting point to the finishing point, in a plurality of actuation strokes, and is characterised by a full stroke actuator (24), to advance the second abutment (18) all the way from an intermediate point on said track (14) to said finishing point in one single stroke of the said actuator (24), the intermediate point being selectable by the user within a portion of the track (14) which extends over at least half the length of the track.

Custom-length self-expanding stent delivery systems and methods enable precise control of prosthesis position during deployment. The stent delivery systems carry multiple stent segments and include a stent bumper for helping control the axial position of the stent segments during deployment. This enables the deployment of multiple prostheses at a target site with precision and predictability, preventing stent segment recoil and ejection from the delivery device and thus eliminating excessive spacing or overlap between prostheses. In particular embodiments, the prostheses of the invention are deployed in stenotic lesions in coronary or peripheral arteries or in other vascular locations.

The initial deployment of a self-expanding stent is performed by the physician manually retracting the sheath of a delivery system. This provides the physician with complete control of the initial deployment of the stent. Further, once the stent is securely engaged within the parent vessel, the remaining deployment over the remaining length of the stent is performed automatically by retraction of the sheath by a spring. Since the physician simply initiates the deployment of the stent, the deployment is readily performed using only a single hand of the physician.

The invention is directed to a self-expanding stent for implantation into a body lumen, such as an artery. The stent consists of a plurality of radially expandable cylindrical elements generally aligned on a common longitudinal stent axis and interconnected by a plurality of interconnecting members placed on the stent in a collinear arrangement such as to create at least one continuous spine which extends along the length of the stent. The invention is also directed to a stent delivery system for implantation of a stent in a vessel which includes an outer tubular member having a restraining sheath and an inner tubular member having a distal end which has a compressed stent mounted thereto. The proximal end of the inner tubular member is connected to a housing assembly which prevents the inner tubular member from moving when the outer tubular member is retracted to deploy the stent. The proximal end of the outer tubular member is attached to a pull-back handle which is slidably mounted on the base of the housing assembly. When the pull-back handle is retracted, the restraining sheath is retracted to deploy the sheath, while the inner tubular member remains stationary.

An aneurysm neck covering device which is particularly useful for sealing the neck of an aneurysm located in the vicinity of a bifurcated blood vessel. The neck covering device includes a self-expanding stent for supporting and retaining a self-expanding neck cover which seals the neck of the aneurysm.

An axial pull wire tension mechanism for a self expanding stent includes a delivery system composed of an inner tube (2), a middle tube (5) and a lock wire (3), open wire knees (102) and / or close wire eyelets (103) at the both ends of the stent, and pull wires (4) for tensioning the stent. The pull wires (4) include at least one distal pull wire (42) and at least one proximal pull wire (43). A pull wire ring (421, 431) is provided at the distal end of each of the pull wires. Each pull wire passes through an opening of the inner tubing head (7) or the inner tube (2) or the middle tube (S) after the pull wire ring at its distal end is threaded through and locked temporarily by the lock wire, and travels between the open wire knees (102) or the close wire eyelets (103) at one end of the stent to constitute a temporary stent connection, thus forming the pull wire tension mechanism that can axially tension the stent. The present invention can locate the self-expanding stent in terms of its axial and rotational positions with great precision when in collaboration with the delivery system and the radially compression mechanism during the process of delivering the self-expanding stent into the patient's body, and is capable of either further adjustment should the position prove to be less ideal, or recycling should the stent prove to be incongruous after the expansion of the stent.

A delivery system for delivery and deployment of a self expanding stent 1 especially in an arterial vessel with a tortuous passageway leading thereto comprises a catheter shaft 9 with a distal sheath 6. An inner core 5 is fixed to a larger diameter outer core 10, the difference in diameter providing an abutment. To deploy the stent 1, the sheath 6 is drawn proximally relative to the inner core 5, the proximal end of the stent 1 is engaged by the abutment and the stent 1 expands as it is uncovered by the sheath 6. The system includes a stabiliser tube 25 to which the inner core 5 is fixed, at least during the deployment of the stent 1.

A prosthetic valve delivery system for percutaneously delivering and deploying a prosthetic valve within an existing valve is disclosed. The delivery system includes a stented prosthetic valve having a balloon-expandable stent portion with a prosthetic valve disposed therein and at least one self-expanding stent portion. The delivery system further includes a dual balloon catheter having a first balloon on which the stented prosthetic valve is disposed during delivery and a second balloon. Upon delivery within the existing valve, the self-expanding stent portion contacts the existing valve and the first balloon expands the balloon-expandable stent portion to a first diameter such that the stented prosthetic valve is in a first stage deployment configuration. The second balloon then expands the balloon-expandable stent portion to a second diameter, greater than the first diameter, such that the stented prosthetic valve is in a second stage deployment configuration being fully deployed within the existing valve.

A medical appliance is provided that includes an outer sheath adapted to enclose a self-expanding stent in an inner space before deployment of the self-expanding stent and an inner sheath arranged between the outer sheath and the self-expanding stent before deployment of the self-expanding stent. The inner sheath includes longitudinal slits that extend from a distal end of the medical appliance to the proximal end. The longitudinal slits form a plurality of inner sleeve tails. The medical appliance also includes an actuator adapted to move the outer sheath with respect to the inner sheath during deployment of the self-expanding stent. The actuator is adapted to cause the outer sheath to move proximally. A method of deploying a self-expanding stent is provided. A method of loading a delivery mechanism is provided.

A medical device for delivery of a self-expanding stent comprises a catheter assembly having a catheter shaft and a self-expanding stent disposed thereabout. A retractable sheath is disposed about the catheter shaft and the stent. The retractable sheath retains the stent in a reduced diameter condition prior to delivery. A retractable membrane is also disposed about the catheter shaft and the stent prior to delivery. Prior to delivery a first portion of the membrane is positioned between the stent and the retractable sheath. A second portion of the retractable membrane extends from the first portion and is positioned radially external of the retractable sheath. The retractable sheath and the retractable membrane are independently moveable relative to one another.