Systems and methods for delivering a stent to a body lumen

摘要

A stent delivery system configured to deliver a stent to a target region of a body lumen may include a catheter; a stent associated with the catheter, the stent having a first region and a second region; a balloon associated with the catheter, the balloon having a first balloon portion associated with the catheter proximate the first region of the stent and a second balloon portion associated with the catheter proximate the second region of the stent; and a sheath about the stent and the balloon, the sheath maintaining the stent in an undeployed configuration for delivery to a target region of a body lumen. The sheath may comprise a first sheath region configured to split at a first pressure thereby permitting the first region of the stent to assume a deployed configuration, a second sheath region configured to split at a second pressure thereby permitting the second region of the stent to assume a deployed configuration, the second pressure being greater than the first pressure and the first pressure being insufficient to cause the second region of the sheath to split, a split-stopping structure between the first and second sheath regions, the split-stopping structure being configured to prevent a split from propagating from the first sheath region to the second sheath region at the first pressure.

主权项

1. Method for delivering a stent to a target region of a body lumen, the method comprising:
positioning a stent delivery system at the target region of the body lumen, the delivery system comprising a stent associated with a balloon catheter and a sheath maintaining the stent in an undeployed configuration; inflating a first balloon portion to a first pressure so as to cause the sheath to split at a first region of the sheath, the first balloon portion being proximate a first region of the stent, said splitting of the first region of the sheath permitting the first region of the stent to expand to a deployed configuration; preventing propagation of the split from the first region of the sheath to a second region of the sheath at the first pressure with a split-stopping structure of the sheath, said split-stopping structure being between the first and second regions of the sheath; and inflating a second balloon portion to a second pressure so as to cause the sheath to split at the second region of the sheath until the split at the second region of the sheath reaches the split-stopping structure of the sheath, the second pressure being greater than the first pressure and the first pressure being insufficient to cause the second region of the sheath to split, the second balloon portion being proximate a second region of the stent, said splitting of the second region of the sheath permitting the second region of the stent to expand to a deployed configuration.