Patent ID: 8221489

Claim:
A radially expandable tubular implant for treatment of bodily conduits, the implant comprising: a plurality of circular portions, the circular portions being circular when viewed along a longitudinal direction of the implant, and a plurality of bridges that, when connected, connect two consecutive circular portions to one another and, when disconnected, do not connect the two consecutive circular portions to one another, wherein: an arrangement of the circular portions and the bridges creates an open mesh defining a plurality of cells, the cells are configured such that the largest circle that will fit within a cell when the implant is expanded to a nominal target diameter of 3.0 mm has a first circle diameter of 0.65 mm or less while the implant is in a connected state, and the cells are configured such that, in an unconstrained portion of the implant adjacent a portion of the implant that is constrained to a 3.0 mm diameter, a second circle diameter of 2.25 mm will fit within an expanded cell opening between the constrained portion and the unconstrained portion when none, one or a plurality of the bridges are disconnected, wherein when one or a plurality of the bridges must be disconnected to achieve fit of the second circle diameter in the expanded cell opening, the bridges are configured to be disconnected in vivo.