Patent ID: 8920483

Claim:
A prosthesis deployment system, comprising: an elongate housing extending along a longitudinal axis and comprising an exterior wall surrounding an interior cavity, the housing having a distal end and a proximal end; an elongate opening formed in and completely through the exterior wall of the housing to the interior cavity; a rotatable rod passing through the interior cavity of the housing and rotatably coupled to the housing; and a prosthesis loaded on the rod in a rolled configuration around the rod in such a way that at least a portion of the prosthesis is configured to extend out of the elongate opening in the exterior wall of the housing; wherein the prosthesis is deployed by being pulled through the elongate opening and unrolled from the rod; and wherein the elongate housing, with the prosthesis loaded on the rod positioned within the interior cavity, prior to deployment has a bending stiffness of at most about 0.87 N/mm.