EP0734699A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Expandable stents and method for making same

Assignee: Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc

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Filing: 1992-10-27

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Granted: —

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Expires: 2012-10-27

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Abstract

Abstract The invention is directed to an expandable stent (10) for implantation in a body lumen, such as an artery, and a method for making it from a single length of tubing. The stent (10) consists of a plurality of radially expandable cylindrical elements (12) generally aligned on a common axis and interconnected by one or more interconnective elements (13). The individual radially expandable cylindrical elements (12) consist of ribbon-like material disposed in an undulating pattern. The stents (10) are made by coating a length of tubing (21) with an etchant-resistive material and then selectively removing portions of the coating to form a pattern for the stent (10) on the tubing (21) to expose the portions of the tubing to be removed. This may be done by machine-controlled activation and relative positioning of a laser (24) in conjunction with the coated tubing (21). After the patterning of the tubing (21), the stent (10) is formed by removing exposed portions of the tubing (21) by an etching process.

Inventors

👤 Lilip Lau
👤 John J. Frantzen
👤 William M. Hartigan

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —

Jurisdiction EP

Data Source google_patents

Last Synchronized 2026-10-24 06:43

CPC Classifications

A; A61; A61F; A61F2/00; A61F2/82; A61F2/86; A61F2/88; A61F2/89; A61F2/90; A61F2/91; A61F2/915; C; C23; C23F; C23F1/00; C23F1/02; C23F1/04; A61F2/848; A61F2/95; A61F2/958; A61F2002/91533; A61F2002/9155; A61F2002/91558; A61F2002/91575; A61F2210/00; A61F2210/0014; A61F2210/0019; A61M; A61M25/00; A61M25/10; A61M2025/1043; A61M2025/1081; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S623/00; Y10S623/901; Y10S623/902; Y10S623/903; Y10S623/92; Y10S623/921; Y10T; Y10T29/00; Y10T29/49; Y10T29/49995

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 10

Claim 1

Independent Claim 46 words

The process of making a stent which includes the steps of: a) applying a coating resistive to chemical etching to a length of tubing; b) selectively removing portions of the resistive coating to expose sections of the tubing; and c) removing exposed portions of the tubing.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 18 words

The process of claim 1 wherein a plurality of stents are made from a single piece of tubing.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 32 words

The process of claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the stent is made from a biocompatible material selected from the group consisting of polymers, stainless steel, titanium, superelastic NiTi alloys and tantalum.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 17 words

The process of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the coating is applied by electrophoretic deposition.

Claim 5

Independent Claim 81 words

A method for making open reticulated tubular structure, comprising the steps of: a) providing a discrete length of thin walled tubing; b) forming a resistive coating onto the exterior of the tubing; c) selectively removing portions of the resistive coating on the exterior of the tubing to leave the desired pattern of the complete open reticulated tubular structure coated with resistive coating and to expose portion of the tubing to be removed; and d) removing the exposed portions of the tubing.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 16 words

The method of claim 5 wherein the exposed portions of the tubing is removed by etching.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 26 words

The method of claim 5 wherein the selective removal of the resistive coating is accomplished by machine controlled relative movement of the tubing and a laser.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 28 words

The method of claim 7 wherein the laser used to selectively remove the resistive coating emits a particular wavelength of light which is readily absorbable by said coating.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 17 words

The method of claim 7 or claim 8 wherein the laser is a CO 2 gas laser.

Claim 10

Independent Claim 20 words

The method of any of claims 5 to 9 wherein the resistive coating used is a photolithographic chemically resistive coating.

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