Patent ID: 7326241

Claim:
An unexpanded stent constructed from a tube, the stent comprising: a first expansion column having a plurality of first expansion strut pairs, each first expansion strut pair including two interconnected first expansion struts, each first expansion strut pair open at a proximal end of the first expansion column and closed at a distal end of the first expansion column, first expansion strut pairs which are adjacent one another connected to one another at a proximal end of the first expansion column, the first expansion column defining a continuous closed path about the circumference of the stent; a second expansion column having a plurality of second expansion strut pairs, each second expansion strut pair including two interconnected second expansion struts, each second expansion strut pair open at a distal end of the second expansion column and closed at a proximal end of the second expansion column, second expansion strut pairs which are adjacent one another connected to one another at a distal end of the second expansion column, the second expansion column distal to the first expansion column, the second expansion column defining a continuous closed path about the circumference of the stent; a first connector column having a plurality of first connectors, each first connector extending from a distal end region of one first expansion strut pair to a proximal end region of one second expansion strut pair and directly connecting the one first expansion strut pair to the one second expansion strut pair, the one second expansion strut pair having a second expansion strut with a longitudinal axis which is collinear with a longitudinal axis of one of the first expansion struts of the one first expansion strut pair to which it is connected, the longitudinal axes being parallel to the longitudinal axes of the two struts of the strut pairs, a first end of the first connector connecting to the first expansion strut pair having a point of connection that is at a location which is longitudinally and circumferentially offset from a point of connection at a location at which the second end of the first connector connects to the second expansion strut pair.