Flexible intra-vascular aneurysm treatment stent

Abstract

An intra-vascular aneurysm-treatment stent and a method for lowering pressure within an aneurysm bubble in a blood vessel. A stent coil is insertable into a blood vessel, the coil made of a material sufficiently flexible to move around curves, loops, and corners in the blood vessel. Selected portions of the stent coil, in cross-section, have substantially convex outer surfaces, and either substantially flat, or substantially concave, inner surfaces, plus upstream leading edges and downstream trailing edges. The stent coil is positioned in the blood vessel with selected stent coil portions proximate an opening into either a saccular aneurysm or a fusiform aneurysm. Blood in the lumen of the blood vessel flows past the leading edges and both over the convex outer surfaces, and under the either flat or concave inner surfaces. A portion of the blood inside the aneurysm becomes entrained with the blood flowing over the outer surfaces. At the trailing edges, the converging blood flows create eddies which result in dPs proximate the opening into the aneurysm. The dPs draw more blood out of the aneurysm and into the lumen, reducing pressure in the aneurysm.