Patent ID: 7037318

Claim:
A stent delivery system comprising: a catheter, the catheter having a catheter shaft; a medical balloon mounted on the catheter shaft, the medical balloon having a non-inflated state and being inflatable to an inflated state, the medical balloon having a stent mounting region, and a stent disposed about at least a portion of the stent mounting region, the start having an unexpanded state and an expanded state, the stent further having a stent center, a first stent end, and a second stent end, the stent mounting region having a middle portion, a first end portion adjacent to the middle portion and a second end portion adjacent to the middle portion, the middle portion having a middle portion diameter, the first end portion having a first end portion diameter, the second end portion having a second end portion diameter, in the non-inflated state the middle portion diameter being greater than the first end portion diameter and the second end portion diameter, in the inflated state the balloon providing the middle portion diameter with a diameter substantially the same as that of the first end portion diameter and the second end portion diameter; wherein when the medical balloon is expanded, the middle portion pushes against the stent before the first end portion and before the second end portion, and wherein when the balloon is expanded from the non-inflated state to the inflated state the stent is expanded from the unexpanded state to the expanded state, such that the stent center is expanded before the first stent end and before the second stent end.