Abstract:
An intraluminal stent comprises a reticulated tube having an un-deployed diameter and expandable to an enlarged diameter. When the tube is at the un-deployed diameter, the tube has cell-defining portions with opposing surfaces defining an open cell bounded by the cell-defining portions.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention pertains to stents for use in intraluminal applications. More particularly, this invention pertains to a novel structure for such stents and a novel delivery tool and method. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Stents are widely used for numerous applications where the stent is placed in the lumen of a patient and expanded. Such stents may be used in coronary or other vasculature (such as carotid arteries or peripheral arteries), as well as other body lumens (e.g., biliary lumens). 
     Commonly, stents are cylindrical members. The stents expand from reduced diameters to enlarged diameters. 
     Stents may be self-expanding or may require the application of force to expand. Self-expanding stents are commonly formed of material which (when in the reduced diameter state) are biased to expand to the enlarged diameter. Such stents are carried on catheters with a sliding sheath placed over the stent and resisting the natural bias of the stent. At a desired delivery site, the sheath is retracted and the stent is free to expand to the enlarged diameter with an outer wall of the stent opposing and abutting an inner wall of the body lumen. 
     Non-self-expanding stents are commonly placed on a balloon catheter with the stent in the reduced-diameter state. So placed, the stent is advanced on the catheter to a placement site. At the site, the balloon is inflated to expand the stent to the enlarged diameter. The balloon is deflated and removed, leaving the enlarged diameter stent in place. So used, such stents are used to expand occluded sites within a patient&#39;s vasculature or other lumen. 
     Examples of prior art stents are numerous. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,373 to Pinchasik et al. teaches a stent with at least two rigid segments joined by a flexible connector. U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,516 to Fischell teaches a stent with a cell having a butterfly shape when the stent is in a reduced-diameter state. Upon expansion of the stent, the cell assumes a hexagonal shape. 
     More recently, significant attention has been paid to stents having drug coatings. Such drug-eluding stents have been developed to address a restenosis problem associated with stents. Restenosis is the tendency of an occlusion to reappear after having been treated by a stent. An example stent having drug storing and metering capabilities is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,915, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. It is hoped that restenosis rates would reduce following the introduction of drug-coated stents were the drug-coating is selected to inhibit restenosis. 
     While having a potential to being a significant improvement in stent design, drug-coated stents continue to have defects in application. For example, there are few choices of drugs and dosages in drug-coated stents. Also, current designs of drug-coated stents deplete the drug coating over a relatively short period of time (e.g., a few days). 
     SUMMARY 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an intraluminal stent is disclosed comprising a reticulated tube having an un-deployed diameter and expandable to an enlarged diameter. When the tube is at the rest diameter, the tube has cell-defining portions with opposing surfaces defining an open cell bounded by the cell-defining portions. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a stent according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a delivery system according to present invention shown in a body lumen; 
     FIG. 3 is the view of FIG. 2 with a distal balloon shown in an inflated state; 
     FIG. 4 is the view of FIG. 3 following ejection of a drug-laden hydrogel into the body lumen and surrounding the occlusion; 
     FIG. 5 is the view of FIG. 4 showing partial expansion of the stent within the body lumen; 
     FIG. 6 is the view of FIG. 5 showing complete expansion of the stent within the body lumen and showing removal of excess amounts of hydrogel from the body lumen; 
     FIG. 7 is the view of FIG. 6 following completion of removal of the excess amounts of hydrogel and showing initiation of a compression of the stent and remaining hydrogel by the distal balloon; 
     FIG. 8 is the view of FIG. 7 showing partial compression of the stent and hydrogel by the balloon; 
     FIG. 9 is the view of FIG. 8 showing complete expansion of the stent and compression of the hydrogel by the distal balloon; 
     FIG. 10 is the view of FIG. 9 showing the balloon and in deflated state with the delivery system less the stent in process of removal from the body lumen. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the several drawing figures in which identical elements are numbered identically, a description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be provided. Where several embodiments are shown, common elements are similarly numbered and not separately described with the addition of apostrophes to distinguish the embodiments. 
     A stent  10  is schematically shown in FIG.  1 . The stent  10  is a reticulated tube having a plurality of struts  12 , which operate as cell-defining portions to define a plurality of open cells  14  extending through an outer cylindrical wall of the stent  10 . 
     The struts  12  have an inner surface  16  opposing a longitudinal stent axis X-X. An outer surface of the cell-defining portions is provided with a surface depression  18  in the form of a groove. The groove is concave in shape and extends along the outer surface of the cell-defining portions. As a result, each of the struts  12 , in cross-section, presents a concave groove on an outer surface of the strut  12 . The groove is disposed such that when the stent is urged against the wall W of a body lumen L, the groove becomes an enclosed chamber captured between the struts  12  and the wall W of the body lumen L as will be more described. In one embodiment the depressions  18  cover or coincide with at least 10% of a total outer surface area of the struts. In another embodiment, the depressions  18  coincide with at least 25% or at least 50% of the total area defined by the outer surfaces of the struts  12 . As best shown in FIG. 2, inner surfaces  19  of the struts are preferably rounded so as to have a convex curvature. 
     In FIG. 1, the stent  10  is shown in an enlarged or expanded diameter. The material of the stent  10  defines the plurality of cells  14 . The cells  14  are bounded areas which are open (i.e., extend through the wall thickness of the stent  10 ). 
     The stent may be formed through any suitable means including laser or chemical milling. In such processes, a hollow cylindrical tube is milled to remove material and form the open cells  14 . By way of non-limiting the example, the width and thickness of the stent  10  is sized for a particular application. For example, for placement in artery, the stent  10  may be sized such that is enlarged diameter is only slightly greater than the internal diameter of the artery. For example, for a 5 mm diameter artery, the stent may have an expanded diameter of about 5.5 mm and a reduced diameter of about 2 mm such that the stent may be placed on a catheter and advanced through the arterial system to a deployment site as is conventional. 
     The specific structure and geometry of the stent  10  as shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration purposes only. There are numerous geometries and shapes of stents and cell-defining portions of stents in the prior art which can be applicable to the present invention. Also, the stent may be lined with an inner or outer sleeve such as polyester fabric or EPTFE for tissue ingrowth. The stent may be coated with radiopaque coatings such as platinum, gold, tungsten, or tantalum. The stent may be formed of any one of a wide variety of previously known materials including, without limitation, stainless steel, nitinol, MP35N, tantalum, platinum, gold, Elgiloy and Phynox. 
     In the embodiments shown and described in the present application, the stent  10  is shown as a self-expanding stent preferably formed of nitinol. However, the stent  10  may be a non-self-expanding stent of the construction requiring the application of force (such as inflation of a balloon) to expand the stent to the expanded diameter as is known in the prior art. 
     FIG. 2 shows a delivery system  20  according to the present invention in position within a body lumen L defined by a wall W. In a preferred embodiment, the wall W may be an artery such as a coronary artery. Also shown in FIG. 2, an obstruction O (such as arterial plaque or thrombus) is located within the lumen L and at least partially occluding the lumen L. 
     The delivery system  20  includes a distal balloon  22  which may be carried on the distal tip of a catheter or, as shown, on the distal tip of a guide wire  24  where the guide wire contains a hollow lumen  26  and with an opening  28  in communication with the balloon  22 . Accordingly, fluid may be selectively admitted under pressure through the lumen  26  and through the opening  28  to cause inflation of the balloon  22 . In FIG. 2, the balloon  22  is shown in a deflated state for unobstructed advancement through the lumen L. 
     A catheter  30  is positioned coaxially surrounding the guide wire  24  and terminating on a proximal side of the balloon  22 . At a distal end of the catheter  30 , the outer cylindrical wall of the catheter  30  is provided with a plurality of openings  32  in communication with an inner hollow lumen  34  of the catheter  30  such that material may be ejected from the lumen  34  and through the openings  32  as will be described. 
     The stent  10  is positioned surrounding the distal end of the catheter  30  with the stent  10  in a reduced diameter or compressed state. An outer sheath  40  surrounds the catheter  30  and the stent  10 . At a distal end, the sheath  40  is provided with a plurality of openings  42  positioned opposing the stent  10 . As a result, there is fluid flow communication between the lumen  34 , openings  32 ,  42  and through the interstitial space between the struts  12  of the stent  10  such that material may be passed between the exterior of the sheath  40  and the catheter lumen  34  as will become apparent. 
     The stent  10  is a self-expanding stent. When the sheath  40  is retracted proximally, the sheath  40  exposes the stent  10  which may now expand under its bias to an expanded diameter. 
     In use, the delivery system  20  as described is advanced to the position shown in FIG. 2 with the balloon  22  in a deflated state and position distally to the obstruction O. The stent  10  is positioned within the obstruction O. Preferably, the stent  10  has an axial length greater than an axial length of the obstruction O. 
     With the delivery system  20  positioned as described with respect to FIG. 2, the balloon  22  is inflated as illustrated in FIG.  3 . When inflated, the balloon  22  is urged against the wall W of the vessel. The balloon  22  is shown with a proximal end  23  having a sloped shape at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the guide wire  24  such that the end  23  is generally conical in shape. 
     With the balloon inflated in shown in FIG. 3, fluid flow (e.g., arterial blood flow) distally past the obstruction O is prevented. If desired, a proximal balloon (not shown) could be inflated on a proximal side of the stent  10  to isolate the obstruction O between two balloons. An additional lumen (not shown) could be formed within the guide wire  24  or in an additional catheter to permit blood flow to flow from a proximal side of the second balloon (not shown) to the distal side of the balloon  22  thereby maintaining blood flow distal to balloon  22 . 
     With the balloon  22  inflated as shown in FIG. 3, a hydrogel  50  is ejected through the lumen  34  and through the openings  32 ,  42  to set up surrounding the obstruction O as illustrated in FIG.  4 . The hydrogel  50  is preferably drug-laden with a therapeutic amount of a drug to prevent restonosis or otherwise provide desired therapy to the artery wall W. Examples of such drugs carried within the hydrogel  50  may include heparin, heparin fragments, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, angiopeptin, cyclosporin and antibiotics such as rapamycin. Other suitable drugs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,913, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     As shown in FIG. 4, the hydrogel  50  completely surrounds the occlusion O. After the hydrogel  50  has been ejected and set as shown in FIG. 4, the sheath  40  is retracted proximally such that the stent  10  may begin to expand as illustrated in FIG.  5 . 
     Complete retraction of the sheath  40  results in complete expansion of the stent  10  as illustrated in FIG. 6 with the stent  10  abutting the wall W of the vessel. As the stent  10  expands through the hydrogel  50 , the stent  10  fractures the hydrogel material. 
     Application of a vacuum to the lumen  34  draws the fractured hydrogel into the catheter lumen  34  and out of the vessel lumen L as illustrated in FIG.  6 . This results in only a small portion of the hydrogel  50  remaining surrounding the stent  10 . 
     As the stent  10  is urged against the wall W of the vessel, opposing surfaces of the wall W and the concave cell-defining surfaces  18  (i.e., grooves) define a chamber captured between the stent  10  and the wall W. A portion of the drug-laden hydrogel  50  is captured within the chamber and abutting the wall W. At this point, the balloon  22  and remaining portions of the delivery system  20  are retracted as illustrated in FIGS. 7-9 with the balloon  22  urging further expansion of the stent  10  and urging the hydrogel  50  to be compressed within the interstitial spaces of the stent  10 . Following this further expansion, the balloon  22  maybe deflated as illustrated in FIG. 10 such that the remaining elements of the delivery system (i.e., the complete delivery system  20  less the stent  10 ) can be proximally withdrawn through the vessel lumen L. 
     The above description of apparatus and method results in the stent  10  being positioned urging the obstruction O against the wall W of the vessel and maintaining the wall W of the vessel in an expanded and open state. A portion of the drug-laden hydrogel  50  is captured within the chamber defined between the concave surfaces  18  of the stent  10  and the wall W of the vessel. Therefore, the drug may be eluded through the hydrogel  50  over time to provide a therapeutic effect to the wall W of the vessel. Also, a portion of the hydrogel  50  may reside within the interstitial spaces or open cells between opposing cell-defining struts  12  to provide additional therapeutic effect. 
     From the foregoing, the present invention has been shown in a preferred embodiment. Modifications and equivalents are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.