Patent ID: 6355070
Filing Date: 2002-03-12
Classification: A61F,D04B,D10B,Y10S

Abstract:
A method for providing reinforcement to a selected region of a selected body lumen that is subject to characteristic peristaltic motion in which a localized radial contraction of the lumen progresses in a wave-like manner down the lumen, said lumen, because of said peristaltic motion, characteristically exhibiting transient localized lengthening of the lumen wall in an amount that conforms to the profile of the peristaltic contraction wave, the method comprising the steps of:selecting for use in said lumen a tubular structural stent formed by knitting a filament into interknit loops, the pattern of said loops selected such that from a relaxed state of said loops, each radially aligned row of said loops may shift in the axial direction of the stent relative to and independently of the radially aligned rows of knit loops on either side, said shifting by an amount sufficient whereby said characteristic local lengthening of the lumen wall over the length of the portion of said lumen that corresponds to the axial extent of said wave profile is accommodated by localized lengthening of the stent without disturbing the position of radially aligned rows of loops that engage at-rest portions of the lumen wall distal of and proximal to said wave profile, thereby maintaining the axial working length of the stent, said shifting accommodated by elastic bending of said filament, wherein the distance between successive radially aligned rows of said loops elongates by a factor (&egr;) defined by the ratio &egr;=l/s wherein l is the maximum distance between loops of adjacent radially aligned rows attained without significant distortion to the loops and s is the distance between loops of adjacent radially aligned rows when at rest and wherein &egr; is about 1.4; delivering said selected stent into said body lumen; and positioning said stent in contact with said wall at said selected region in said body lumen; whereby said stent can locally lengthen and shorten with the physiologic motions of said body lumen during peristalsis and thereby resist migration from said selected region.