Patent ID: 7722660

Claim:
A stent comprising: a plurality of serpentine bands having alternating peaks and troughs including connected peaks having connectors extending therefrom and connected troughs having connectors extending therefrom, each connector extending to an adjacent serpentine band, each serpentine band including unconnected peaks and unconnected troughs which do not have connectors extending therefrom, the plurality of serpentine bands including a first serpentine band and a second serpentine band; and a plurality of splines; wherein the first serpentine band is connected to the second serpentine band by a connector that spans peak-to-peak; and each spline respectively extends from one of said unconnected peaks of one of said serpentine bands towards an adjacent connected trough of an adjacent serpentine band, each spline separated from the adjacent connected trough by a gap, each serpentine band having peaks that do not have a spline extending therefrom.