Stent delivery apparatus and method

Surgery – Instruments – Internal pressure applicator

Patent

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623 1, 623 12, A61M 2900

Patent

active

059892803

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a delivery system and method for delivering and deploying a stent. More specifically, the invention relates to a delivery system and method for delivering and deploying a self-expanding stent in a body lumen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Stents and delivery systems for deploying stents are a highly developed and well known field of medical technology. Stents have many well known uses and applications. A stent is a prosthesis which is generally tubular and which is expanded radially in a vessel or lumen to maintain its patency. Stents are widely used in body vessels, body canals, ducts or other body lumens.
The preferred present stent delivery apparatus and method utilizes a self-expanding stent, which is well known in the art. A well known self-expanding stent is the woven braided stent disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,655,771 (Wallsten); 4,954,126 (Wallsten) and 5,061,275 (Wallsten), although any type of self-expanding stent may be deployed using the inventive delivery system and method. The delivery system of the present invention may also be used to deliver a balloon expanded stent and may also deliver stent grafts, which are well known in the art.
The delivery systems for stents are generally comprised of catheters with the stent axially surrounding the distal end of the catheter. It is highly desirable to keep the profile of the catheter as small as possible. Therefore, self-expanding stents are generally confined in a reduced radius for delivery to the deployment site. Once the stent is deployed the catheter is removed, leaving the stent implanted at the desired location to keep the vessel walls from closing.
A variety of techniques have been developed for holding a self-expanding stent in its reduced configuration while moving the distal end of the catheter to the deployment site. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,771 (Wallsten), gripping members at either end of the stent hold the stent in an axially-elongated position, which causes the stent to take a reduced radius delivery configuration.
Another common technique for maintaining the self-expanding stent in a reduced radius delivery configuration is using a sheath which surrounds the stent and compresses it around the catheter. This technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,407 (Termin) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,435 (Porter), both of which use a silicon rubber sheath to compress the stent. A similar technique is disclosed in 5,026,377 (Burton) and 5,078,720 (Burton).
A variation on surrounding the stent with a sheath is disclosed in 4,732,152 (Wallsten); 4,848,343 (Wallsten) and 4,875,480 (Imbert), all of which disclose using a sleeve formed of a doubled-over section of membrane to compress and contain the stent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,457 discloses using a sheath to surround a mesh stent of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,922,405. However, in this patent the sheath is not used to compress the stent, but is used to prevent fluid from accessing the stent. The stent is impregnated with a pure gelatin or other dissolvable material which, when cured, has sufficient strength to hold the stent in its reduced delivery configuration. Once the sheath is withdrawn, the stent is exposed to the body fluids which dissolve the gelatin, allowing the stent to self-expand. This reference also discloses using axial distribution of gelatins with different rates of thermal decomposition to control the physical profile of the stent as it expands. However, using an impregnated mesh stent adds several inconvenient manufacturing steps to the process of preparing the stent for implantation.
All of the methods for delivery of a stent discussed to this point involve releasing the stent starting from one end of the stent, except for Anderson 5,234,457 which can allow the stent to self-expand uniformly over its entire length. An improvement to this type of deployment is discussed in Heyn 5,201,757 which relates to medial deployment of a stent. Medial deployment of a stent releases

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