Patent ID: 8016873

Claim:
A wall structure for a tubular member that is deliverable to the site of a lesion within a tubular vessel of the body, the tubular member having a nondeployed state and capable of undergoing an expansion deformation to a deployed state in order to hold the wall of the tubular vessel outward, said wall structure comprised of; A. one or more hinges and one or more struts, B said hinges having a hinge length, said hinge length extending along a path that undergoes the primary bending during the expansion deformation, said hinge length being less than three times a hinge width such that said hinge focuses the deformation of said hinge beyond its elastic limit throughout the expansion causing said hinge to deform plastically, said hinge being bounded by two surfaces that lie in the radial direction, said hinge width being equal to the distance between said surfaces, C. said struts having a strut radial dimension that is substantially less than a hinge radial dimension such that said struts are able to remain below their elastic limit and therefore flex elastically and not substantially plastically in the radial direction during a crush deformation.