Patent ID: 7431732

Claim:
A stent formed to be tubular as a whole, having a first outer diameter capable of insertion into a tubular lumen of a living body, and capable of expansion to have a second outer diameter larger than said first outer diameter when an expanding force directed outward in a radial direction is imparted within the stent, comprising a plurality of annular expanding members arranged a predetermined distance apart from each other in an axial direction of the stent and each formed of a waved element, each of the waved elements comprising an alternating arrangement of ridges and bottoms so that each ridge is circumferentially followed by one of the bottoms; and a plurality of waved connecting members connecting each of a plurality of the ridges of axially adjacent wave elements to one another and connecting each of a plurality of the bottoms of axially adjacent wave elements to one another; wherein said plurality of annular expanding members are arranged in an axial direction of the stent such that no substantial phase difference exists in the waves of the waved elements, and each of the waved connecting members has a plurality of waves including a wave formed in a clearance between adjacent annular expanding members and having an amplitude larger than that of the other wave, the largest wave included in each of said waved connecting members having a wave height measured circumferentially of the stent, the ridge or bottom of the waved elements having a width measured circumferentially of the stent, the wave height of the largest wave included in each of said waved connecting members being larger than the width of the ridge or bottom of the waved element under the state that the stent possesses said first outer diameter; wherein the plurality of waves comprising each waved connecting member includes a plurality of waves positioned between portions of a single one of the waved elements.