Patent ID: 8025692

Claim:
A stent delivery system comprising: i) a sleeve to surround a self-expanding stent, to be retracted proximally, relative to the stent, to release the stent progressively, starting with a distal end of the stent; ii) an abutment to engage the stent, within the volume defined by the sleeve, to restrain the stent from moving proximally, as the sleeve is retracted proximally; iii) a tubular, lumen-defining catheter shaft extending proximally from the abutment, which resists axial compressive stresses during proximal withdrawal of the sleeve; iv) a tension member which runs a length of the catheter shaft, which receives a tensile stress at a proximal end of the tension member and thereby imposes on the sleeve an axial stress for said proximal retraction of the sleeve relative to the stent, the tension member connecting to a connection ring inside the sleeve and coaxially arranged with a larger ring on an abluminal surface of the sleeve opposite the connection ring; v) the catheter shaft includes a proximal guidewire lumen exit port remote from a proximal end of the catheter shaft, whereby the stent delivery system is a rapid exchange system; and vi) the catheter shaft carries at a catheter shaft distal end an inner catheter, which defines a guidewire lumen and extends from an inner catheter proximal end at the proximal guidewire lumen exit port to an inner catheter distal end which defines a distal guidewire lumen exit port at a distal end of the sleeve, wherein the inner catheter and the catheter shaft are arranged parallel between the distal end of the catheter shaft and the proximal guidewire lumen exit port with spacing therebetween to accommodate the tension member outside the guidewire lumen and inside the lumen of the catheter shaft, a catheter shaft extension at the catheter shaft distal end, a luminal surface of the sleeve moves, during said proximal retraction, over an abluminal surface of the catheter shaft extension.