A stent for insertion into a vessel of a patient, said stent comprising: a tubular member with front and back open ends and a longitudinal axis extending there between, said member having a first smaller diameter for insertion into said vessel, and a second larger diameter for deployment into said vessel, said tubular member comprising a plurality of adjacent hoops (52, 152) each having proximal and distal open ends relative to the longitudinal axis, said hoops (52, 152) comprising a plurality of longitudinal struts (60, 160) and a plurality of loops (62, 162) connecting circumferentially adjacent struts (60, 160) so as to form a series of peaks and valleys in a substantially S or Z shaped pattern; and a plurality of bridges (70, 170) connected between loops (62, 162) on adjacent hoops (52, 152) in a repeating pattern, each said connection between the plurality of bridges (70, 170) and the loops (62, 162) on adjacent hoops (52, 152) forming a connection region, wherein the ratio of the total number of loops (62, 162) for a given end of one of the adjacent hoops (52, 152) to the number of connection regions for the same end of the same hoop (52, 152) is a whole number; characterized by: each bridge (70, 170) comprising an elongated linear strut member directly connected on each end to a first end of a curved bridge loop member, the second end of each curved bridge loop member being directly connected to the loop (62, 162) at the connection region, the connection region having a connection point center which is offset from the center of the loop to which the bridge is attached, wherein the connection regions of connected loops (62, 162) are facing towards one another in the direction of the shortest distance circumferentially around the tubular member between one another and the elongated linear strut members extend in a plane substantially perpendicular to said longitudinal axis of the tubular member when having the first smaller diameter. a tubular member with front and back open ends and a longitudinal axis extending there between, said member having a first smaller diameter for insertion into said vessel, and a second larger diameter for deployment into said vessel, said tubular member comprising a plurality of adjacent hoops (52, 152) each having proximal and distal open ends relative to the longitudinal axis, said hoops (52, 152) comprising a plurality of longitudinal struts (60, 160) and a plurality of loops (62, 162) connecting circumferentially adjacent struts (60, 160) so as to form a series of peaks and valleys in a substantially S or Z shaped pattern; and a plurality of bridges (70, 170) connected between loops (62, 162) on adjacent hoops (52, 152) in a repeating pattern, each said connection between the plurality of bridges (70, 170) and the loops (62, 162) on adjacent hoops (52, 152) forming a connection region, wherein the ratio of the total number of loops (62, 162) for a given end of one of the adjacent hoops (52, 152) to the number of connection regions for the same end of the same hoop (52, 152) is a whole number; characterized by: each bridge (70, 170) comprising an elongated linear strut member directly connected on each end to a first end of a curved bridge loop member, the second end of each curved bridge loop member being directly connected to the loop (62, 162) at the connection region, the connection region having a connection point center which is offset from the center of the loop to which the bridge is attached, wherein the connection regions of connected loops (62, 162) are facing towards one another in the direction of the shortest distance circumferentially around the tubular member between one another and the elongated linear strut members extend in a plane substantially perpendicular to said longitudinal axis of the tubular member when having the first smaller diameter.