Patent ID: 7597703

Claim:
An occluder apparatus for use in a tubular vessel of a human body, the apparatus comprising: an elongate outer tube having a distal end; an elongate inner shaft having a distal end and extending slidably through the outer tube; an occluder comprising: a distal expander having a plurality of circumferentially spaced, longitudinally oriented fingers, the fingers having radially expandable proximal ends and radially constrained distal ends coupled to the inner shaft adjacent the inner shaft distal end; a proximal expander having a plurality of circumferentially spaced, longitudinally oriented fingers, the fingers having radially expandable distal ends and radially constrained proximal ends coupled to the outer tube adjacent the outer tube distal end, the fingers of the proximal expander being interposed in a slidable mating arrangement with the fingers of the distal expander wherein at least the fingers of the proximal expander slide over and against the radially constrained distal ends of the distal expander during transformation of the occluder between a collapsed configuration and a radially expanded configuration; and a flexible non-porous sleeve covering at least the fingers of both the distal and proximal expanders, wherein when the occluder is slidably transformed between the collapsed configuration and the expanded configuration, the radially expandable ends of the fingers of at least one of the expanders are radially splayed around the radially constrained ends of the fingers of the other expander to dilate the sleeve.