Patent ID: 8361135

Claim:
An introducer for an expandable, endovascular prosthesis, the introducer comprising: a distal prosthesis positioning mechanism including a distal retention section and a distal retention mechanism engaging and retaining a distal portion of the expandable endovascular prosthesis on the distal retention section and to selectively disengage the distal retention section from the retained distal portion of said prosthesis; and a proximal prosthesis positioning mechanism including a cylindrical sleeve adapted to retain said prosthesis and a second control member to selectively disengage the cylindrical sleeve from said prosthesis; wherein the second control member includes a first region coupled to the distal prosthesis positioning mechanism extending longitudinally therefrom, and a second region coupled to the first region adapted to selectively and proximally engage a self expanding stent of said prosthesis to retain the self expanding stent in the cylindrical sleeve.