Abstract: Tubular stents are formed from a sheet of material having longitudinally extending margins and an expandable pattern between the margins. The sheet can be formed to a tube with the margins overlapped and secured. The margins may be provided with means to facilitate registration of the margins.

Abstract: The invention is a dilation catheter which comprises an elongated catheter shaft, a guide wire tube, and an angioplasty balloon. The distal end of the balloon is attached to the distal portion of the guide wire tube, and the proximal portion of the balloon is attached to the distal portion of the catheter shaft. A stiffening wire is attached to the inner wall of the catheter shaft at a plurality of points along its length. The distal extremity of the guide wire tube is decreased in size relative to the proximal portion of the guide wire tube. A fluid is contained within the guide wire lumen.

Abstract: The present invention concerns an expandable stent for supporting a body lumen formed from an elongate strip of biocompatible material that is helically wrapped into a tubular shape. The strip is formed with a tongue extending along one edge and a groove along the other. The tongue is slidably received in the groove as the strip is wound into helical wraps that form a tube. The tongue and groove engagement interlocks the wraps to maintain the tubular shape. Sliding of the tongue within the groove permits the wraps to slide relative to each other causing the diameter of the stent to be increased or decreased. An increase in the stent diameter corresponds to a decrease in the length of the stent and vice versa. Thus the stent can be delivered to a vessel site in reduced diameter long length configuration, then deployed by compressing its length to cause expansion.

Abstract: A balloon catheter comprising a body and first and second arms attached to one end of the body. A common inflation lumen extends along the body and branches into each of the arms. An expandable balloon is provided on each arm so as to be in fluid communication with the lumen of each arm. The catheter further includes a guide wire lumen in each of the arms. A method for dilating a narrowed bifurcated vessel is also disclosed.

Abstract: An exchange accessory useful with monorail and other types of catheters has a hollow, elongated sleeve for insertion into a Tuohy-Borst connector or the like, and an enlarged head at its proximal end to restrain the sleeve from advancing with the catheter into the connector. The sleeve is slidably mounted on the catheter shaft so that it may be interposed between a sealing member within the connector and the catheter. The internal diameter of the sleeve is greater than and complementary with the external diameter of the catheter shaft to define a space about the catheter shaft sufficient to allow backbleed of blood therethrough in a controlled manner.In one embodiment, the sleeve has a slotted head to accommodate a guidewire which may extend in parallel to the catheter shaft, for example, when used with a monorail type catheter. The slot permits the guidewire to extend proximal to the connector without bending or kinking.

Abstract: Tubular stents are formed from a sheet of material having longitudinally extending margins and an expandable pattern between the margins. The sheet can be formed to a tube with the margins overlapped and secured. The margins may be provided with means to facilitate registration of the margins.

Abstract: An endoluminal stent is formed in a modular construction to include at least one elongate spine and a plurality of general tube-defining modules attached to the spine, or spines, in a longitudinal array. The modules are constructed along a spine-like structure so as to form a bifurcate shape for implantation in branching or bifurcating vessels. Each module defines, in cooperation with a spine, a closed ring-like structure. Each of the modules is radially expandable from a reduced diameter, low profile configuration, in which it is readily navigated through the body passages, to an expanded diameter engageable with the inner luminal surface of the body lumen. The stent, being of modular construction, can be built to individual specifications for a specific patient. Modules are formed from a wire shaped in a flat serpentine configuration that is then wrapped in a cylindrical configuration with its free ends connected to a spine.

Abstract: The invention includes systems and methods for providing stents having expandable cylindrical elements that are connected by articulated arms and connecting rods. These stents are understood to reduce the shortening that can occur as the stent is expanded from a first radial dimension to a second radial dimension.

Abstract: A package is provided for a catheter which comprises an elongate tube, having a proximal end and a distal end, for receiving a catheter shaft. The proximal end includes a sleeve element sized to accommodate one or more catheter shaft accessories located on the proximal end of the catheter, and a retainer portion for releasably retaining the catheter and catheter shaft accessories. The retainer portion is engageable with the sleeve element and is axially slidable relative thereto, between a storage state in which the retainer portion and the retained catheter shaft accessories are located substantially within the sleeve element and a usable state in which the retainer portion and the retained catheter shaft accessories are withdrawn from the sleeve element.

Abstract: An apparatus for limiting the pressure of inflation fluid injected into one or more balloon of a catheter device comprising a reservoir chamber having an inlet port coupled in fluid communication with an inflation/deflation device and a plurality of outlet ports coupled in fluid communication with a plurality of cylindrical housings. Each cylindrical housing includes a pressure chamber and a valve chamber. The valve chamber receives a piston moveable between a fully open position and a closed position and spring biased toward the fully open position. Each housing includes an outlet port coupled in fluid communication with a separate balloon of a catheter device. Each piston includes an internal flow path which enables the flow of pressurized inflation fluid from the reservoir chamber to the balloon catheter when the pressure of the inflation fluid within the balloon is below the desired cut-off pressure.

Abstract: The systems and methods described herein include drug delivery catheters that have dimpled porous balloons mounted onto the distal end of the catheter. In one embodiment, the balloons are adapted for delivering therapeutic agents to the tissue wall of a body lumen, and to this end include a plurality of dimples formed in the exterior surface of the balloon, with each dimple having at least one aperture through which a fluid delivered into the interior of the balloon can extravasate. It is understood that the balloons described herein provide, inter alia, increased coverage of the tissue wall to which the agent is being delivered and less traumatic contact between the agent being delivered and the tissue wall.

Abstract: Systems and methods for mounting a stent onto the balloon of a balloon catheter. In one embodiment, a kit is provided that includes two instruments, a first being a loader tool and a second being a profiler tool. The loader tool can be a handheld device that includes a handle at one end of the tool. A tube extends outwardly from the handle, and a wire extends is axially through the tube and projects outwardly from the tube. A balloon catheter can slide along the central wire until the balloon is delivered into the interior of the tube. A stent that is disposed about the periphery of the tube can be mounted onto the balloon by grasping the handle of the loader tool and pulling the handle and tube away from the catheter and stent whine the catheter and stent are maintained in a fixed relationship.

Abstract: The present invention concerns a mechanism for securely mounting an expandable stent onto a balloon catheter for intraluminal delivery within a patient. The stent is secured to the balloon of the delivery catheter by forming the surface of the balloon to project into the interstices of the stent. To mount the stent it first is slid over an evacuated and wrapped balloon while in its compact delivery diameter. A rigid tube then is placed over the stent and balloon assembly and the balloon is pressurized while a solvent is applied to the balloon. The rigid tube prevents the stent from expanding but allows the balloon to deform so that its surface projects slightly through either or both of the interstices and ends of the stent. The solvent causes the balloon material to take a permanent set into the stent such that once pressure is removed, the stent is interlocked with the surface of the balloon.