Patent ID: 8092514

Claim:
A stretchable stent, comprising: a coiled-up sheet having overlapping inner and outer longitudinal sections extending generally parallel to a longitudinal axis thereof, the coiled-up sheet being expandable between a contracted condition and one or more enlarged conditions, the coiled-up sheet defining a periphery in a plane substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis thereof; a plurality of locking elements extending from the inner longitudinal section for engaging openings in the outer longitudinal section to selectively secure the coiled-up sheet in the one or more enlarged conditions; and a plurality of first cells, each first cell being defined by a stretchable element formed in the coiled-up sheet and having a first area, the stretchable elements having a shape memory such that the stretchable elements are plastically deformable towards an unstretched condition at a temperature at or below about 25 degrees Celsius, and biased to expand about the periphery from the unstretched condition towards a stretched condition when exposed to a temperature at or above body temperature; wherein each stretchable element comprises a pair of peripherally expandable wing-like elements extending generally parallel to the longitudinal axis, each pair of peripherally expandable wing-like elements comprising a first longitudinal element and a second longitudinal element, each longitudinal element being curvilinear and having three turns between a first end and a second end of the longitudinal element, the first end being engaged to a peripheral connector element and the second end being engaged to a looped end, the looped end engaging the first and second longitudinal elements; a plurality of peripheral connector elements; and a plurality of second cells, each second cell being defined by four longitudinal elements and two peripheral connector elements, each of the four longitudinal elements forming a portion of a different stretchable element, each second cell having a second area, the second area being greater than the first area when the stent is in the unstretched condition.