Patent ID: 8357193

Claim:
A method for delivering a stent from a first body lumen, through adjacent opposing luminal walls, to a second body lumen to form an anastomosis, said method comprising: advancing an endoscope having a working channel to a target site on a wall of the first lumen; providing a stent deployment apparatus having a control handle and a stent deployment catheter assembly; advancing at least a portion of the stent deployment catheter assembly into the working channel of the endoscope; attaching the control handle to the endoscope so that the control handle is immobilized relative to the endoscope; advancing the stent deployment catheter assembly including a shaft, a self-expanding stent carried on the shaft, and a sheath constraining the stent on the shaft relative to the control handle and the endoscope and through a passage from the first body lumen, through the opposing walls at the target site, and into the second body lumen; retracting the sheath relative to the endoscope, control handle and shaft by a distance sufficient to release a distal portion of the stent and form a distal flange; pulling proximally on the stent deployment catheter assembly such that the shaft, the stent and the sheath move simultaneously in the proximal direction to engage the distal flange against the wall of the second body lumen to draw the two luminal walls into closer apposition while a proximal flange of the stent remains constrained by the sheath; and further retracting the sheath relative to the endoscope, control handle, and shaft to release portions of the stent remaining constrained by the sheath, wherein the proximal flange expands against the wall of the first body lumen.