| 摘要 |
Stent delivery system and method of manufacturing same. In one embodiment, the stent delivery system comprises an inner catheter. A handle is disposed at the proximal end of the inner catheter, and an enlarged tip is disposed at the distal end thereof. A stent engaging sleeve coaxially surrounds and is secured to a portion of the inner catheter proximally contiguous to the tip. The stent engaging sleeve is used to frictionally engage a stent mounted thereover in such a wa y as to prevent the stent, during deployment, from sliding proximally relative to the inner catheter. The system additionally comprises a self-expandable stent of the type comprising a knitted mesh of nitinol wire flexible in both the radial a nd longitudinal axes. The stent is mounted over the stent engaging sleeve in a longitudinally stretched state and is maintained, until deployment, in the stretched state by a stent restraining sleeve. The stent restraining sleeve, which coaxially surrounds the stent and is appropriately sized to maintain the stent in its stretched state, is a braided tube formed directly over the stent. The system also includes an outer catheter that surrounds much of the distal end of the inner cathete r up to its tip, the outer catheter being adapted for axial movement relative to the inner catheter. The distal end of the outer catheter, which is mechanically couple d to the distal end of the stent for axial movement, is provided with an increase d inner diameter to accommodate those components positioned between the inner and outer catheters. To facilitate the advancement of the outer catheter over th e stent restraining sleeve during the assembly of the system, the outer catheter is fabricated with a longitudinal split extending proximally from its distal en d. After the outer catheter has been positioned over the stent restraining sleeve, th e split is sealed. |
