Patent ID: 7252679

Claim:
A stent comprising: a thin-walled, multi-cellular, tubular structure with a length and having in the unexpanded and unbent position a longitudinal axis passing through the center of the stent; a proximal end and a distal end; a multiplicity of circumferential sets of strut members, longitudinally separated each from the other and each set of strut members forming a closed, cylindrical portion of the stent; the stent also having a proximal set of circumferentially arranged strut members located at the proximal end of the stent and the proximal set of strut members oriented in a first plane generally transverse to the longitudinal axis; a distal set of circumferentially arranged strut members located at the distal end of the stent and the distal set of strut members oriented in a second plane generally transverse to the longitudinal axis; and a plurality of central sets of circumferentially arranged strut members positioned between the proximal and distal sets of strut members each of said central sets of circumferentially arranged stent members oriented in the same direction, and the central sets of strut members meeting the proximal set of strut members along a third plane; the first plane of the most proximal set of strut members having an angulation between 15 and 75 degrees with respect to the longitudinal axis of the stent when the stent has been expanded within a vessel of the human body, and the first, second and third planes intersecting with one another.