ENDOLUMINAL PROSTHESIS DEPLOYMENT DEVICE FOR USE WITH PROSTHESES OF VARIABLE LENGTH AND HAVING RETRACTION ABILITY

摘要

An endoluminal prosthesis deployment device (50) includes a hollow plunger (52) which is slide-mounted on a narrow inner catheter (54) and an outer sheath (56) through which the catheter and the plunger are sliding. The distal end of the plunger is provided with a soft retractor bulb (60) and the distal end of the inner catheter is provided with a dilator tip (64). The proximal end of the plunger is provided with a locking mechanism (68) for temporarily locking the relative positions of the plunger and the catheter, and the proximal end of the outer sheath is provided with a locking mechanism (72) for temporarily locking the relative positions of the plunger and outer sheath. The deployment device according to the invention accommodates prostheses of different length by adjusting the distance between the distal end of the plunger and the dilator tip. This distance is adjusted by moving the plunger and/or the catheter relative to each other and locking their relative positions with the locking mechanism on the plunger.