| abstract |
Endoluminal prostheses, prosthetic systems, and methods for preparation and usenof endoluminal prostheses for treatment of diseased body lumens make use ofnendoluminal prosthetic frame structures having circumferentially interspersed largenand small expansible elements. These expansible elements, which are typicallyndiamond-shaped, will generally decrease in length as the tubular frame expandsnradially. The prosthesis will often include a tubular liner supported by an axialnseries of ring frames having alternating large and small diamond elements, andncan be loaded in a delivery catheter with the axial apices of the large diamond-shapednelements aligned with a small diamond-shaped element of an adjacentnframe ring. To maintain adequate column strength, the adjacent ring frames maynbe attached to the liner so that the ring frames rotate relative to each other duringnexpansion. The large diamond-shaped elements of adjacent ring frames can benaligned together once the prosthesis is expanded in the body lumen to enhancencolumn strength. |