| abstract |
An endoluminal prosthetic device comprising axially repeating rings made up in turn of unit cells. The unit cells themselves are made up of circumferentially repeating patterns of multilayered strut members to form the ring. The rings may be axially connected to form a stent. The multilayered struts, created by recesses cut from various regions in the strut members, permit improved radiopacity, increased stent flexibility during insertion stage into a lumen and better post-expansion conformability to the longitudinal shape of the body lumen, while providing increased rigidity and strain tolerance once the stent has been expanded, as well as improved expansion ratio and fatigue characteristics. Variations on slot placement, length and orientation with respect to the centerline of the strut members permit the optimization of a stent's strength, rigidity, strain and related mechanical properties. This approach reconciles competing needs for a stent to be low-profile and flexible enough to facilitate navigation through a tortuous body lumen so as to avoid causing lumen trauma prior to stent expansion and still achieve the expansion ratio and possess the needed radial strength to obtain and maintain lumen patency. Slots or holes in struts further enable an easy and reliable point of attachment of graft material by means of sewing, stitching or riveting. |