Patent ID: 9198784
Filing Date: 2015-12-01
Classification: A61F

Abstract:
1. A method for delivering a prosthesis in a target vessel of a patient, comprising: inserting a guidewire through the patient's vasculature to the target vessel; slidably coupling a catheter to the guidewire, the catheter having an outer sheath and an inner shaft, and having an expandable member attached to a distal end thereof; advancing the catheter over the guidewire to the target vessel; retracting the outer sheath relative to the inner shaft to expose a first tubular prosthesis carried on the expandable member, the first tubular prosthesis being selected to have a number of stent segments in response to a length of a lesion to be covered by the stent segments such that the outer sheath is retracted accordingly; expanding the expandable member to deploy the first tubular prosthesis in the target vessel while covering a proximal portion of the expandable member by the outer sheath to constrain the proximal portion from expansion such that an adjacent prosthesis is inhibited from expanding while a distal portion of the expandable member expands and deploys the first tubular prosthesis; and pushing distally a second prosthesis in the catheter relative to the expandable member when unexpanded until the second prosthesis engages a stop member attached to a distal portion of the catheter, wherein the stop member comprises a partial cylindrical member positioned proximal to a distal tip and having at least one relief region formed on a lateral surface of the stop sufficient to reduce interference with a garage member having a relatively high cirumferential strength sufficient to prevent the expandable member from inflating and having a length at least as long as the first or second prosthesis but less than a combined length of the first and second prostheses, the garage member being attached to a distal end of the outer sheath.