Patent ID: 7648526
Filing Date: 2010-01-19
Classification: A61F

Abstract:
1. An expandable flexible stent for use in blood vessels, comprising: a plurality of radially expandable annular members aligned one after another in a longitudinal direction, and one or more connecting elements located between said annular members adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction of the stent to connect them, wherein each of said annular members comprises first annular member elements and second annular member elements alternately connected with each other in a circumferential direction of the stent, wherein each of said first annular member elements in a development of the stent includes first, second and third linear segments which extend longitudinally and parallel to one another, said second linear segment and third linear segment being equal in length, while the first linear segment being different in length from said second and third linear segments, said first linear segment and said second linear segment being connected by an arched segment that is convex toward a proximal side of the stent, while said second linear segment and third linear segment being connected by an arched segment that is convex toward a distal side of the stent, wherein each of said second annular member elements in the development of the stent includes first, second and third linear segments which extend longitudinally and parallel to one another, said second linear segment and third linear segment of each second annular member element being equal in length, while said first linear segment of each second annular member element being different in length from said second and third linear segments of each second annular member element, said first linear segment and second linear segment of each second annular member element being connected by an arched segment that is convex toward the distal side of the stent, while said second linear segment and third linear segment of each second annular member element being connected by an arched segment that is convex toward the proximal side of the stent, wherein said first annular member elements and second annular member elements in each annular member are arranged alternately around a circumference of the stent, and are connected such that each of the second annular member elements is connected to the adjacent first annular member element on one side thereof by an arched segment that is convex toward the proximal side of the stent and located between the first linear segment of the second annular member element on the one side, and is connected to the adjacent first annular member element on an opposite side thereof by an arched segment that is convex toward the distal side of the stent and located between the third linear segment of the second annular member element and the first linear segment of the adjacent first annular member element on the opposite side thereof, wherein the annular members adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction of the stent are connected by said one or more connecting elements, each of said one or more connecting elements being connected at one end thereof to the arched segment joining the second and third linear segments of the first annular member elements of the annular member located on the proximal side of the stent, and at the other end thereof to the arched segment joining the second and third linear segments of the adjacent annular member on the distal side of the stent, wherein the arched segments at opposite ends of each of the connecting elements are arranged along the same straight line extending in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the stent.