Patent ID: 8747879

Claim:
A method for fabricating an implantable medical device to reduce late inflammation upon bioabsorption of the device, the method comprising: radially expanding a polymer tube at a first temperature greater than a Tg of the polymer of the polymer tube, wherein the radial expansion induces crystallization in the polymer; and heat setting the expanded polymer tube while maintaining the tube in the expanded state, wherein the polymer tube is at a second temperature in the range of from Tg to 0.6(Tm−Tg)+Tg such that the heat set polymer tube comprises a crystalline structure having crystals at a size less than 2 microns or about 2 microns; and fabricating the implantable medical device which is a stent from the heat set polymer tube, wherein the fabricating comprises forming a pattern in the heat set polymer tube by cutting which forms a scaffolding including interconnecting structural elements.