Schneider (usa) Inc.

Jeannine B Baden

Leonard Pinchuk

Suranjan Roychowdhury

Eugen Hofmann

Jennifer E Raeder-Devens

Susanne Hankh

Michael G O'Connor

Daniel J Klima

A body implantable stent is formed of a plurality of strands arranged in two sets of coaxial helices, wound in opposite directions to form multiple crossings. At selected crossings, the adjacent strands are welded to one another, while at the remaining crossings the strands are free for limited movement relative to one another. The welds are formed in patterns that preferably enhance radial strength and rigidity, while having a minimal impact on axial bending flexibility. Preferred weld patterns in this regard include rings or circumferential rows, and helices, particularly with a steeper pitch than that of the strands. Stent fabrication preferably involves resistance welding at the crossings, and use of a tool to reuniformly compress the stent around and against the distal end region of a balloon catheter used later to deliver the stent to a treatment site.

Process for fabricating a prosthesis

Protheses with selectively welded crossing strands

A balloon catheter includes an inflatable expander member for deploying a large diameter stent includes a plurality of balloon segments affixed to the distal end of a multi-lumen catheter body, the segments being selectively expansible in groups whereby the stent can be spread to conform to the blood vessel in which it is deployed while still permitting blood to perfuse through the spaces occupied by the uninflated ones of the segments. By using plural segments of smaller effective diameter, the composite expander can be made large enough to spread a collapsed stent without exceeding the burst strength of the individual balloon segments.

High pressure expander bundle for large diameter stent deployment

Growing community of inventors

Rogers, MN, United States of America

Jeannine B Baden