Patent ID: 8690935

Claim:
An expandable stent and stent delivery system comprising: a delivery system including an elongated core member having a longitudinal core member axis and a distal portion along the longitudinal core member axis, the distal portion of said elongated core member has integrally formed thereat a first threaded core member portion, and the first threaded core member portion has a plurality of threads having respective ridges projecting radially outwardly; an expandable stent having a compressed state and an expanded state that is a self-expanded state, said stent comprising a tubular member having a thin wall and a longitudinal stent axis substantially coaxial with the core member axis, the stent having a body portion including a proximal section and a distal section, a first strut member extending away from said thin wall in a direction generally parallel to the stent axis and offset radially outwardly from the stent axis, wherein said first strut member defines a first threaded strut member portion that does not lie along the body portion of the stent and that extends longitudinally away from and beyond either the proximal section or the distal section of the stent body portion, the first threaded strut member portion has a row of teeth, and wherein said ridges of the first threaded core member portion are threadably engageable with the teeth of said first threaded strut member portion; said distal portion of the elongated core member has a diameter such that the distal portion is radially spaced away from the stent body portion when the stent is in its compressed state; and a deployment catheter having a lumen extending therethrough and adapted for coaxial placement about said elongated core member such that said deployment catheter compresses the expandable stent from its self-expanded state to its compressed state and causes said first threaded strut member portion but not the body portion of the stent to be interlocked onto said first threaded core member portion by mating engagement between said first threaded core member ridges and said first threaded strut member portion teeth, while the core member distal portion remains spaced away from and does not interlock with the stent body portion.