Patent ID: 8778014

Claim:
A medical assembly comprising: a stent having a polymer coating and a catheter having a balloon supporting the polymer coated stent, a surface of the balloon being modified so as to provide a lower kinetic coefficient of friction, adhesion, or both, at the polymer coating surface/balloon surface interface as compared to the kinetic coefficient of friction, adhesion, or both, at the polymer coating surface/balloon surface interface of an unmodified surface of the same balloon so as to prevent or minimize coating damage to the polymer coating during expansion, deflation, withdrawal of the balloon, or any combination thereof; wherein the surface of the balloon is modified with a blocking agent deposited on at least a portion of the balloon surface such that for the balloon about 0.5 μg to about 2 μg of the blocking agent is deposited per 1 mm 2 of the balloon surface; and wherein the blocking agent is poly(butyleneterephthalate-co-ethylene glycol).