BRAIDED STENT

摘要

A braided stent (1) for transluminal implantation in body lumens is self-expanding and has a radial expanded configuration in which the angle alpha between filaments is acute. Some or all of filaments (6, 7) are welded together in pairs at each end (4, 5) of the stent to provide beads (8), thereby strengthening the stent and assisting its deployment from a delivery device. The stent is preferably completely coated using a biocompatible polymeric coating, said polymer preferably having pendant phosphoryl choline groups. A method of making the stent by braiding and welding is described as well as a delivery device for deploying the device.