Patent ID: 8062345

Claim:
A delivery system for delivering and deploying a stent graft, comprising: a) a guidewire catheter having a distal end and an interior extending along a longitudinal axis; b) an apex release catheter having a distal end and being slidably disposed about said guidewire catheter; c) an apex capture device including: i) a distal capture portion fixedly connected to said distal end of said guidewire catheter, said distal capture portion having a distal portion with a proximal end, and a proximal stopper having an exposed side facing distally that is disposed in a place approximately perpendicular to said longitudinal axis and defining stopping surface portions, and a proximal side extending along a line that intersects with the guidewire catheter proximal to said exposed side of the proximal stopper, and ii) a proximal capture portion fixedly connected to said distal end of said apex release catheter, and having fingers extending toward said distal capture portion in a distal direction, said fingers defining an interior cavity shaped to receive said proximal stopper therein, wherein said proximal and distal capture portions are formed to hold proximal apices joining struts of a stent therebetween and, together, define a stent captured state in which said proximal stopper and proximal apices of the stent are received in said interior cavity to thereby constrain the proximal apices while the struts emanate radially from between the fingers of the proximal capture portion, and said distal capture portion approximately closes off said interior cavity along said longitudinal axis; d) a relatively rigid, hollow outer catheter having a distal end and a first inner diameter; e) a sheath catheter having a distal end and being slidably disposed about said apex release catheter and slidably disposed in said outer catheter; f) a relatively flexible, hollow stent graft sheath having a proximal end connected to said distal end of said sheath catheter and disposed about said apex release catheter, said sheath having a distal end and a second inner diameter greater than said first inner diameter of the hollow outer catheter to fit therein an at least partially compressed stent graft; and g) a distal nose having a proximal end connected to at least one of said distal capture portion and said distal end of said guidewire catheter, said nose and said distal capture portion defining a cavity in which said distal end of said stent graft sheath is held releasably.