[54] VASCULAR STENT
[75] Inventor: Arthur B. Fontaine, Fresno, Calif.
[73] Assignee: Cook Incorporated, Bloomington,
Ind.
[21] Appl. No.: 192,064
[22] Filed: Feb. 4,1994
Related U.S. Application Data
[63] Continuation of Ser. No. 858,304, Mar. 25, 1992, abandoned.
[51] Int. C1.5 A61F2/06
[52] U.S. CI 623/1; 606/198;
623/12
[58] Field of Search 606/198, 200; 623/1,
623/11,12,900
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 4,776,337 10/1988 Pahnaz .
5,015,253 5/1991 MacGregor .
5,019,090 5/1991 Pinchuk 606/194
5,135,536 8/1992 Hfflstead 623/1
5,161,547 11/1992 Tower 606/198
5,163,958 11/1992 Pinchuk 606/198
5,314,472 5/1994 Fontaine 623/1
Primary Examiner—C. Fred Rosenbaum
Assistant Examiner—N. Kent Gring
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Richard J. Godlewski
[57] ABSTRACT
A vascular stent for reducing hemodynamic disturbances caused by angioplasty. The stent is formed from a single filament of low memory biocompatible material having a series of U-shaped bends. The filament is wrapped around a mandril, in a circular fashion, in order to align the curved portions of each bend which may then be connected. The stent provides a maximum amount of structural support for the lumen while minimizing hemodynamic disturbances inside the lumen.
14 Claims, 6 Drawing Sheets
