Patent ID: 7896912

Claim:
A cylindrical expandable stent comprising: a plurality of cylindrical tubes each formed of a plurality of connected adjacent struts, the plurality of cylindrical tubes expandable from a first diameter to a second diameter; wherein when in the second diameter, at least some of the adjacent struts form a substantially V-shape with respect to each other, said V-shape having a midline parallel to the longitudinal axis of the stent, said adjacent struts interconnected at alternating ends to define an apex for each V-shape; a plurality of “S”-shaped bridging elements connected between the adjacent cylindrical tubes, one end of each said “S”-shaped element having a pair of ends forming an end of said “S”-shape, said “S”-shaped element connected to one V-shape on a first cylindrical tube and the second end of said “S”-shaped element connected to an opposing V-shape on a second cylindrical tube, wherein each of the bridging elements are connected to a cylindrical tube entirely above a midline of each of the V-shapes on one cylindrical tube and entirely below the midline of each of the V-shapes on an adjacent cylindrical tube; and wherein each of the bridging elements crosses a midline of a V-shape three times.