Patent ID: 8151682

Claim:
A method of braiding a stent comprising: (a) providing a number of elongate filaments, each of the filaments having opposed ends and an intermediate portion between the opposed ends; (b) providing a number of tensioned braiding carriers; (c) providing a braiding mandrel having opposed proximal and distal ends, the braiding mandrel comprising a number of circumferentially spaced-apart securement projections at the distal end of the braiding mandrel; (d) securably disposing the intermediate portion of one of the filaments to one of the securement projections; (e) securing one of the opposed ends of the one filament to one of the tensioned braiding carriers; (f) securing the other opposed end of the one filament to a different second tensioned braiding carrier; (g) repeating steps (d) through (f) until all of the intermediate portions of the filaments are securably disposed to different ones of the securement projections and until each end of the number of filaments are secured to a different one of the tensioned braiding carriers; (h) moving the tensioned braiding carriers around the mandrel; and (i) longitudinally advancing the mandrel in a direction substantially perpendicular to the motion of the tensioned braiding carriers to braid the filaments to form a braided stent.