Patent ID: 11903852
Assignee: BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 0:
1. A multi-stage stent, comprising:
a stent body comprised of a plurality of interconnected struts compressed in an initial compressed state;
a plurality of bio-erodible expansion stops coupled between a subset of the plurality of struts in a configuration to allow the stent body to expand unimpeded in a first stage expansion from the initial compressed state and to halt expansion of the stent body at a first expansion state,
wherein, as the plurality of bio-erodible expansion stops begin to erode, radial force from the compressed stent body stretches and thins each of the plurality of bio-erodible expansion stops into an hourglass shape until each of the plurality of bio-erodible expansion stops break at a thinned portion of the hourglass shape, thus releasing the stent body from the first expansion state to expand further in a second stage expansion to a fully expanded state.