Patent ID: 8740968
Filing Date: 2014-06-03
Classification: A61F

Abstract:
1. A method for arranging multiple independent stent rings on a carrier of a catheter, said method comprising: providing an elongated carrier structure; and mounting a plurality of radially expansible rings comprising axially extending elements on the carrier structure with the rings in an unexpanded crimped configuration suitable for delivery into a blood vessel and at least some of the rings are separable from an adjacent ring, wherein the axially extending elements on adjacent rings interleave when mounted on the carrier structure in the unexpanded crimped configuration without interlocking so as to permit axial separation of the adjacent rings, none of the axially extending elements constraining axial separation of the adjacent rings in the unexpanded crimped configuration, wherein the axially extending elements having an overlapping portion which is received between axially extending elements of an adjacent ring, the overlapping portion comprising a pair of axial struts separated by a circumferential distance which is constant or tapering toward the adjacent ring throughout all of the overlapping portion, wherein at least some of the axially extending elements comprise expansible closed structures which widen as the rings are expanded and wherein at least some of the axially separable rings further comprise spacers which engage the axially extending elements on adjacent rings to provide a preselected spacing between adjacent rings upon radial expansion, wherein adjacent axially extending elements form a concave region therebetween, the concave region having a closed end and the spacers maintaining a gap between the closed end and an axially extending element of the adjacent ring, wherein the spacers comprise an axially extending strut having an axial extension length, the axially extending strut being disposed between two adjacent axially extending elements on the same ring, the two adjacent axially extending elements having an axial length greater than the axial extension length of the strut.