Patent ID: 8070790

Claim:
A delivery system for delivering and deploying stents having proximal apices that join struts of the stents, comprising: a) a hollow first lumen having a distal end and an interior extending along a longitudinal axis; b) a hollow second lumen having a distal end and being slidably disposed about said first lumen; and c) an apex capture device, comprising i) a distal capture portion fixedly connected to said distal end of said first lumen, said distal capture portion having a distal portion with a proximal end, and a proximal stopper having an exposed side facing distally that is disposed in a plane approximately perpendicular to said longitudinal axis, and defining stopping surface portions, and a proximal side extending along a line that intersects with the hollow first lumen proximal to the exposed side of the proximal stopper, and ii) a proximal capture portion fixedly connected to said distal end of said second lumen and having fingers extending toward said distal capture portion in a distal direction, said fingers defining an interior cavity shaped to receive said proximal stopper therein, said proximal and distal capture portions being formed to hold the proximal apices therebetween and, together, defining a stent captured state in which said proximal stopper and proximal apices of the stent are received in said interior cavity to thereby constrain the proximal apices while the struts emanate radially from between the fingers of the proximal capture portion, and said distal capture portion approximately closes off said interior cavity along said longitudinal axis.