Patent ID: 8512391

Claim:
A stent for insertion into a vessel of a patient, comprising: a central portion comprised of a plurality of helical circumferential windings, each of said windings including a plurality of undulations, with each said undulation being defined by two adjacent struts connected together, each of the two adjacent struts having a same strut length, wherein a same number of struts is traversed from any one bridge to a next bridge on each of said windings when traveling along the windings either from a first circumferential location to a second circumferential location spaced from the first circumferential location or from the second circumferential location to the first circumferential location, the same number of struts being determined by identifying the any one bridge disposed on one side of one of said windings and counting the number of struts traversed to reach the next bridge disposed on an opposite side of the one of said windings, at least one cylindrical end portion at an end of said central portion; and a transition zone disposed between said central portion and each of said cylindrical end portions, said transition zone including a plurality of transition undulations having struts that progressively increase in length and defining longer struts that are longer than a shortest strut of the transition zone, each of the longer struts having opposing ends connected to loops adjoining adjacent struts, a terminal end of a strut of the central portion adjoining one longer strut between the opposing ends of the one longer strut, wherein a relatively longer strut of said transition undulations has a relatively wider width than a relatively shorter strut of said transition undulations.