Patent ID: 8652198

Claim:
A method for delivering a luminal prosthesis to at least one treatment site, the method comprising: providing a plurality of radially expandable prosthetic stent segments arranged axially along a delivery catheter and within a sheath of the delivery catheter, wherein at least some adjacent prosthetic stent segments have a coupling structure therebetween; positioning the delivery catheter at a first treatment site; selecting two or more prosthetic stent segments for deployment; and decoupling the two or more prosthetic stent segments from the remaining stent segments by expanding a decoupling balloon within the sheath of the delivery catheter so as to engage the coupling structure, wherein the decoupling balloon is positioned near the distal end of the delivery catheter, and wherein a proximal end of the two or more prosthetic stent segments is decoupled from a distal end of the remaining stent segments upon engagement of the coupling structure while being disposed within the sheath of the delivery catheter; radially expanding the selected two or more prosthetic stent segments without expanding the remaining prosthetic stent segments, wherein the two or more prosthetic stent segments are expanded by an expansion element, wherein the expansion element is separate from the decoupling balloon, and wherein the coupling structure permits the selected prosthetic stent segments to separate from the remaining prosthetic stent segments while maintaining or forming an attachment between the selected prosthetic stent segments when expanded.