Patent ID: 6451051
Filing Date: 2002-09-17
Classification: A61F

Abstract:
An attachment anchor for holding an intravascular tubular member outward within a blood vessel, said attachment anchor being deliverable in the nondeployed state with a smaller nondeployed diameter and able to expand to a deployed state with a larger deployed diameter and a deployed perimeter, said attachment anchor having a curved surface, said attachment anchor comprising;A nodes and struts connected to each other to form a ring structure, said nodes being comprised of at least one hinge, B said hinge having a hinge width less than a hinge radial dimension which allows said hinge to bend only in a direction substantially along the curved surface of said attachment anchor, C said strut having a strut radial dimension that is less than a strut width and providing said strut with an ability to deform only in substantially the radial direction with substantially an elastic deformation due to an external crush force that deforms said attachment anchor to an oval shape while retaining a deployed perimeter, D said hinge having a hinge radial dimension of adequate magnitude such that the forces transmitted to said hinges by said struts are unable to cause said hinges to bend substantially in the radial direction while said attachment anchor forms an oval shape due to exposure to an externally applied crush force, E each of said struts having a strut width of adequate magnitude such that the forces transmitted to said struts by said hinges are unable to cause said struts to bend in the curved surface during an expansion of said attachment anchor, whereby said attachment anchor provides an uncoupling of the expansion force associated with said hinge from the elastic radial bending force of said strut generated from the crushing deformation of said attachment anchor to an oval shape such that these forces can be varied independently from one another by adjusting the radial dimensions and widths of said hinges and struts as described herein.