Patent ID: 8298276

Claim:
A stent delivery system for placing a stent inside a body cavity following insertion into an endoscope, said stent delivery system comprising: a pusher catheter which is flexible, the pusher catheter comprising: a stent housing on a front end thereof, and an inner circumferential surface defining a pusher catheter lumen; a guide catheter configured to be inserted through the pusher catheter lumen in a freely advancing and retracting manner; and a stent which is disposed in the stent housing, the stent comprising: a cylindrical stent main body into which the guide catheter is capable of being inserted, and a grip piece that is attached so as to extend from a base end of the stent main body, the grip piece comprising a long narrow member that is pliable, wherein, the inner circumferential surface of the pusher catheter and an outer circumferential surface of the guide catheter define a space within which the grip piece of the stent is housed so as to extend from the base end of the stent main body to a base end side of the pusher catheter in an axial direction of the pusher catheter between an inner wall of the pusher catheter and an outer wall of the guide catheter in a state where the guide catheter is inserted through the pusher catheter lumen and the stent main body, the stent housing has an outer diameter larger than that of the pusher catheter and a lumen in which an inner diameter thereof is larger than an outer diameter of the stent main body, the stent further comprising at least one flap formed on a side surface of the stent main body so as to open naturally toward a radially outward direction of the stent main body, the at least one flap being elastically deformable so as to be folded toward the stent main body under the application of external force, and the stent is housed in the lumen of the stent housing in a state where the flap comes into contact with the stent main body.