Stents for angioplasty

Abstract

This invention is a stent having a substantially tubular body defining a longitudinal axis comprising first and second adjacent annular segments, each segment defining a substantially sinusoidal shape having a plurality of peaks and valleys, the peaks of the first segment extending toward the second segment and being aligned longitudinally with the valleys of the second segment. The stent has a plurality of bridge elements having a U-shaped portion between first and second connector arms, the first connector arm of one bridge element being connected between a first peak and a first valley of the first segment and the second connector arm being connected between a first peak and a first valley of the second segment.

Description

[0001]This application is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 10 / 159,969, filed May 31, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,273,494 B2, which is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 09 / 410,303, filed Oct. 1, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,451,049 B2, which is a continuation-in-part of patent application Ser. No. 09 / 069,425, filed Apr. 29, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,821 B1, the contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to stents for angioplasty. In particular, the invention relates to a stent having a cellular design.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The term “stent” is intended to indicate devices useful for endoluminal insertion (for example, in a blood vessel), usually effected by means of catheterisation, with subsequent deployment in place so as to achieve local support of the lumen. The primary purpose of the stent is to eliminate and avoid the restenosis (i.e., narrowing or closure) of ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0017]In a second aspect, this invention is a method of preventing restenosis by providing the stent described above and deploying it within a body lumen.

Problems solved by technology

These stresses often cause the stent to perform in an undesirable manner.

Additionally, a significant disadvantage of current stent designs is their failure to distribute these stresses throughout the structure of the stent.

This results in at least two problems.

First, an overlap of the maximum stress areas may overly fatigue the stent and cause failure in an area of overlapped maximum stress.

Second, the failure to distribute or discharge the maximum stress of these forces at different areas causes stress concentration on the vessel wall which may cause vessel wall injury.

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