Patent ID: 7389670

Claim:
A stent crimping assembly for crimping a stent from a first diameter to a reduced second diameter, said crimping assembly comprising: a plurality of movable wedges having respective first side and a second side converging to form a tip portion, said tip portions being arranged to collectively form an iris about a rotational axis thereof, said iris defining a crimp aperture about which said movable wedges are disposed, each said wedge being associated with a stationary structure and a rotational actuation unit for relative rotational displacement of the wedges about said rotational axis of the iris, as a unit, and such that during rotation of the actuation unit about the rotational axis, the iris is caused to rotate about the rotational axis, relative the stationary structure, for inward movement of the wedges to decrease the size of the crimp aperture and outward movement of the wedges to increase the size of the crimp aperture.