Intraluminal device with improved flexibility and durability

Abstract

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a stent for insertion into a vessel of a patient. The stent is a tubular member having front and back open ends and a longitudinal axis extending there between. The tubular member has a first smaller diameter for insertion into a patient and navigation through the vessels, and a second larger diameter for deployment into the target area of a vessel. The tubular member is made from a plurality of adjacent hoops extending between the front and back ends. The hoops include a plurality of longitudinal struts and a plurality of loops connecting adjacent struts. The stent further includes a plurality of bridges having loop to bridge connections which connect adjacent hoops to one another. The bridge to loop connection points are separated angularly with respect to the longitudinal axis. The bridges have one end attached to a loop, another end attached to a loop on an adjacent hoop. The connection point between the bridge and the hoops will have a repeating pattern over a plurality of strut apices such that the benefits of a decreased number of bridges is realized while simultaneously avoiding the creation of overly unconstrained hoops. It is preferred that the ratio of total number of circumferentially aligned loops to the number of loops spanned by a particular bridge be a whole number.