Patent ID: 8142490

Claim:
A stent for insertion into a vessel of a patient, the stent comprising: a) a tubular member having front and back open ends and a longitudinal axis extending therebetween, the tubular member having a first smaller diameter for percutaneous insertion into the vessel and a second larger diameter for deployment in the vessel; b) the tubular member comprising a structural frame having a plurality of only discrete, independent, and unconnected adjacent hoops having inner and outer diameters and extending between the front and back ends of the tubular member, the hoops comprise a plurality of longitudinal struts and a plurality of loops connecting adjacent struts each of the plurality of longitudinal struts having a luminal surface, an abluminal surface, and side walls extending between the luminal and abluminal surfaces; and c) a metallic thin film tube having inner and outer diameters, the thin film tube being affixed to at least a portion of the hoops and holding the plurality of hoops apart from each other and in alignment with the longitudinal axis, wherein when the tubular member is in the first smaller diameter, the thin film tube is folded axially inward between at least some circumferentially adjacent longitudinal struts, so as to extend past the abluminal surface and in between the side walls of the circumferentially adjacent longitudinal struts, the portions of the folded thin film tube containing bends defining a bending line, and the bending line being parallel to the longitudinal axis.