| abstract |
A delivery catheter, with or without an inflation balloon, and coated with a heat activated adhesive to secure a stent thereon is disclosed. The adhesive has a phase transformation temperature just above the temperature of human blood, so that below the transformation temperature the adhesive is tacky, and above the transformation temperature the adhesive is non-tacky. In a stenting procedure, when the stent is mounted to the balloon catheter and the catheter is introduced into a body lumen, the adhesive is below the transformation temperature and remains tacky to hold the stent to the catheter. Once the stent-catheter assembly is positioned at the deployment site, a warm saline or dye solution is injected to heat the adhesive to above the transformation temperature. The adhesive becomes non-tacky and releases the bond between the catheter and deployed stent allowing the former to be withdrawn. |