Patent ID: 8808347

Claim:
A method of treating a bifurcated vessel, said method comprising: providing a first radially expandable stent, the first stent comprising a proximal end, a distal end, a sidewall having a side hole therethrough, and a plurality of lateral elements extending from the side hole, wherein the first stent has a collapsed configuration and an expanded configuration; providing a second radially expandable stent, the second stent comprising a proximal end, a distal end, and a plurality of axial elements extending axially away from the proximal end of the second radially expandable stent, wherein the second stent has a collapsed configuration and an expanded configuration; delivering the first stent in the collapsed configuration and the second stent in the collapsed configuration to a bifurcation in a vessel, wherein the first stent is disposed over a first elongate shaft, the second stent is disposed over a second elongate shaft, one of the stents is delivered to a side branch of the bifurcation, and the other stent is delivered to a main branch of the bifurcation, and wherein, after the first stent and second stent are delivered, a length of the second elongate shaft between the proximal end of the second stent and the side hole of the first stent is greater than a length of the first shaft between the distal end of the first stent and the side hole; proximally retracting the second stent to the side hole in the first stent by slidably retracting a portion of the second shaft under a proximal portion of the first stent when the first stent is in the collapsed configuration, and passing another portion of the second shaft, including a region of a balloon of the second shaft, through the side hole of the first stent when the first stent is in the collapsed configuration; radially expanding the first stent from the collapsed configuration to the expanded configuration, wherein in the expanded configuration the first stent engages and supports a vessel wall adjacent the bifurcation; and radially expanding the second stent from the collapsed configuration to the expanded configuration, wherein in the expanded configuration the second stent engages and supports a vessel wall adjacent the bifurcation; wherein the step of radially expanding the first stent comprises radially expanding the proximal portion of the first stent from the collapsed configuration simultaneously with the radial expansion of the proximally retracted second stent from the collapsed configuration using the balloon of the second shaft, and wherein the proximal retraction of the second stent and radially expanding of the first and second stents are performed so as to result in interdigitating of the axial elements of the second stent with the lateral elements of the first stent.