Patent ID: 7651520

Claim:
An introducer sheath type of ostial stent positioner for facilitating the placement by an operator of the proximal end of a stent within ±2 mm of the ostial plane of an artery that has an ostial stenosis, the positioner having a wire extending for most of its length that is attached to a variable diameter cylinder that has an adjustable outer diameter that becomes essentially the same dimension as the inside diameter of a guiding catheter into which the variable diameter cylinder is placed, the variable diameter cylinder being designed to exert a gentle outward force against the interior wall of the guiding catheter, the wire extending for most of the length of the positioner having a distal section and a proximal section with the distal section being shorter in length and smaller in diameter as compared to the proximal section of the wire, the variable diameter cylinder also being fixedly attached to at least two expandable distal legs that end with radiopaque feet that have a substantially flat surface where they touch the surface of the aorta at the ostium of the artery to be stented, the substantially flat surfaces of the feet collectively forming a distal plane when they are pushed in a distal direction out of the distal end of the guiding catheter and against the interior wall of the aorta, the positioner being designed for placement of the distal plane of the radiopaque feet to be substantially co-planar with the ostial plane of the artery when the ostial stent positioner is urged forward in a distal direction after the expandable distal legs have been expanded radially outward beyond the distal end of the guiding catheter through which the positioner can be placed.