Patent ID: 8002815

Claim:
A method of loading a vascular prosthesis into a delivery system, comprising: providing a vascular prosthesis comprising an alternating helical section that includes at least three helical portions having alternating directions of rotation, wherein the helical portions are coupled to adjacent helical portions at apices, the apices comprising alternating outer and inner apices, the outer and inner apices extending in different directions; providing a delivery system including an elongate body, a plurality of retainers and an outer sheath; coupling the inner apices to the elongate body with the retainers while leaving the outer apices uncoupled from the elongate body; winding the alternating helical section around elongate body to a contracted state by wrapping at least a plurality of the outer apices around the elongate body; and advancing the outer sheath over the elongate body to capture the alternating helical section between the elongate body and the outer sheath with the outer apices remaining uncoupled from the elongate body.