Balloon expandable stent graft and apparatus and method for expanding a balloon expandable stent graft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9486346-B2
Application number	US-201313782627-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2013
Priority date	Mar 1, 2013
Publication date	Nov 8, 2016
Grant date	Nov 8, 2016

Abstract

A stent-graft delivery system includes a balloon, a sleeve disposed over the balloon, and a stent graft mounted over the sleeve. The sleeve includes a weakened area between a first end and a second end of the sleeve such that when the balloon is expanded, the balloon expands from a center portion of the balloon towards the ends of the balloon. The weakened area of the sleeve may be a slit, a thinner wall section, grooves, notches, or other weakening features. The sleeve may be adhesively attached to an outer shaft of the catheter or to an outer surface of the balloon.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A stent graft delivery system comprising:
a balloon;
a sleeve disposed over the balloon, wherein the sleeve includes a weakened area between a first end and a second end of the sleeve; and
a stent graft mounted over the sleeve, the stent graft including a stent coupled to a graft material,
wherein the balloon and sleeve are configured such that upon inflation, the balloon expands from a middle portion of the balloon towards ends of the balloon such that the stent graft expands from a middle portion of the stent graft towards ends of the stent graft.

2. The delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the weakened area comprises a portion of the sleeve with a thinner wall than the remainder of the sleeve.

3. The delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the weakened area comprises a slit in the sleeve.

4. The delivery system of claim 3 , wherein the slit extends from an outer surface of the sleeve to an inner surface of the sleeve.

5. The delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the first end of the sleeve is proximal to the second end and wherein the first end of the sleeve is adhesively coupled to the balloon.

6. The delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the balloon is coupled to a shaft of a catheter.

7. The delivery system of claim 6 , wherein a proximal end of the balloon is coupled to an outer shaft of the catheter and a distal end of the balloon is coupled to an inner shaft of the catheter.

8. The delivery system of claim 7 , wherein a proximal end of the sleeve is coupled to a distal portion of the outer shaft.

9. The delivery system of claim 7 , wherein a proximal end of the sleeve is coupled to a proximal portion of the balloon.

10. A method of delivering and deploying a stent graft to a location within a body lumen comprising the steps of:
delivering the stent graft to the location, wherein the stent graft is in a radially compressed configuration mounted over a balloon of a stent graft delivery system, wherein a sleeve with a weakened area is disposed around the balloon;
inflating the balloon such that the stent-graft expands from the radially compressed configuration to a radially expanded configuration, wherein the sleeve causes the balloon to expand from a middle portion of the balloon towards ends of the balloon such that the stent graft expands from a middle portion of the stent graft towards ends of the stent graft; and
deflating the balloon, wherein the stent-graft remains in the radially expanded configuration after deflating of the balloon.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the weakened area comprises a slit through the sleeve.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the slit extends from an outer surface of the sleeve to an inner surface of the sleeve.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the weakened area comprises a portion of the sleeve with a thinner wall than the remainder of the sleeve.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the stent graft is disposed over the sleeve such that the sleeve is disposed between the balloon and the stent graft.

Assignees

• Medtronic Vascular Inc

Inventors

• Argentine Jeffery

Classifications

• A61F2/07

  Stent-grafts · CPC title

• A61F2002/828

  Means for connecting a plurality of stents allowing flexibility of the whole structure · CPC title

• A61F2/958 Primary

  Inflatable balloons for placing stents or stent-grafts · CPC title