Patent ID: 8075616

Claim:
An apparatus for applying a compressive load on body tissue, the apparatus comprising: a catheter having proximal and distal ends and a lumen extending through the catheter; a balloon affixed to the catheter, the balloon being in fluid communication with the lumen and having contracted and deployed states, wherein the balloon assumes a predetermined shape in the deployed state, wherein the balloon includes an interior surface defining an expandable chamber; and a stent having contracted and deployed states, wherein the stent is plastically deformable by the balloon and substantially conforms to the predetermined shape of the balloon in the deployed state, wherein the stent is configured to apply a compressive load on surrounding body tissue when in the deployed state; wherein, in the deployed state, the balloon is maintained in the predetermined shape, at least in part, by an anchor element extending along a constrained portion of the interior surface of the balloon and limiting expansion of the balloon in the constrained portion in comparison with expansion in an unconstrained portion in which the anchor element is not present when the balloon changes from its contracted to its deployed state, wherein an entirety of the anchor element is disposed within the expandable chamber of the balloon.