Patent ID: 7686845

Claim:
A method of treating a vascular bifurcation of a main vessel into a first branch vessel and a second branch vessel, wherein blood flows from the main vessel into the first and second branch vessels in a downstream direction, comprising: positioning a delivery catheter having a stent thereon, wherein the stent comprises an upstream end and a downstream end and a central axis, such that the stent is at a treatment site within the main vessel with the downstream end adjacent the vascular bifurcation, wherein the stent is uncovered and self expandable to a configuration having a single central lumen in which the upstream end has a smaller diameter with respect to the central axis than the downstream end diameter with respect to the central axis; and deploying the stent in the main vessel by retracting an outer sheath of the delivery catheter, such that the stent self expands to a configuration in which the upstream end has a smaller cross sectional area with respect to the central axis than the downstream end with respect to the central axis, and in which the downstream end communicates with both the first branch vessel and the second branch vessel.