Patent ID: 8172897

Claim:
A stent for implanting in a vascular lumen, comprising a stent body that is expandable from a pre-implant configuration to a post-implant configuration inside the vascular lumen, the stent body including a strut having a cross-section, wherein the cross-section of the strut including: a metallic region comprising a bioerodable metal; wherein the bioerodable metal comprises a pure or substantially pure bioerodable metal; and a polymer region comprising a biodegradable polymer contacting and disposed over the metallic region, wherein the metallic region erodes at a different rate when exposed to bodily fluids than the polymer region when exposed to bodily fluids, and wherein the metallic region starts to erode when the polymer region is at least partially degraded after the stent body has been expanded to the post-implant configuration inside the vascular lumen, wherein the bioerodable metal erodes at a faster rate when exposed to bodily fluids than the biodegradable polymer when exposed to bodily fluids, wherein the metallic region is configured to completely or almost completely erode before the polymer region is completely or almost completely eroded.