Patent ID: 8721714

Claim:
An apparatus for minimally invasively delivering a medical device to a target site within a patient, the apparatus comprising: an inner tube having an outside surface suitable for accepting a medical device collapsed thereon in a stationary position; an outer tube movable relative to the inner tube and incorporated therewith; and a sheathing material having a first end affixed to a collar attached to the inner tube and a second end affixed to an outside distal end of the outer tube so that a portion of the sheathing material may cover at least some of the medical device when loaded on the apparatus, the inner and outer tubes being aligned concentrically so as to create an inversion point in the sheathing material when one tube is moved relative to the other tube; wherein the inverted portion of the sheathing material covering at least a portion of the medical device comprises an inside layer and an outside layer, the outside layer overlapping the inside layer, the outside layer being adjacent to the inside layer such that no portion of the outer tube is between any portion of the inside layer and any portion of the outside layer that covers the portion of the medical device loaded on the apparatus and such that the outside layer contacts the inside layer; and wherein the apparatus is configured so that movement of one tube relative to the other tube causes the inversion point to move relative to the medical device when loaded on the apparatus so as to expose the medical device to expansion when it is desired that the medical device expand at a target site.