US 6,981,986 B1
Longitudinally flexible expandable stent
Brian J. Brown, Hanover, Minn. (US); and Michael L. Davis, Shorewood, Minn. (US)
Assigned to Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc., Maple Grove, Minn. (US)
Filed on Sep. 20, 2000, as Appl. No. 9/666,866.
Application 09/666866 is a continuation of application No. 09/122431, filed on Jul. 24, 1998, granted, now 6,348,065.
Application 09/122431 is a continuation of application No. 08/511076, filed on Aug. 03, 1995, granted, now 6,818,014.
Application 08/511076 is a continuation in part of application No. 08/396569, filed on Mar. 01, 1995, abandoned.
Int. Cl. A61F 2/06 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 623—1.16 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A tubular, flexible, expandable stent having a proximal end and a distal end and comprising:
a plurality of cylindrical shaped segments aligned on a common longitudinal axis to define a generally tubular stent body, each segment having a proximal end and a distal end, each segment being defined by an undulating pattern of interconnected struts to define the periphery of the stent body, circumferentially adjacent struts interconnected at only one end of the struts; and
a plurality of interconnecting elements, each interconnecting element extending from an interconnected end of adjacent strut on one segment to a circumferentially offset interconnected end of adjacent struts on an adjacent segment, each interconnecting element having a proximal end and a distal end, the distal end offset in a circumferential direction and in a longitudinal direction from the proximal end;
the stent including cylindrical shaped segments which have interconnecting elements extending from the distal end of the segment and from the proximal end of the segment, each interconnecting element which extends from the distal end of the segment connected to an interconnecting element which extends from the proximal end of the segment via three struts of the segment;
the stent further including end segments and intermediate segments, each of the struts of the end segments being longer than the struts of the intermediate segments of the stent;
whereby, upon expansion of the stent, struts of adjacent segments are displaced relative to each other about the periphery of the stent body to accommodate longitudinal flexing of the stent within the segments and without interference between adjacent segments.