A multi-element, vascular stent may be used to maintain or enhance patency of a blood vessel. The stent may be used in peripheral blood vessels, which may be long and/or tortuous. By using multiple, separate stent elements that are balloon expandable, the multi-element stent may be stronger than a traditional self-expanding stent but may also be more flexible, due to its multiple-element configuration, than a traditional balloon-expandable stent. Individual stent elements shorten upon expansion creating a space between stent elements. The distance between stent elements when deployed may be based on characteristics of the stent and the target vessel location such that the stent elements do not touch one another during skeletal movement. Thus, the multi-element, vascular stent described herein may be particularly advantageous for treating long lesions in tortuous peripheral blood vessels

Some embodiments of the invention advantageously leverage the expansion of the prostatic urethra using adjustable lumen tension rings (ALTRs) of desired sizes to control and improve flow throughout the range of the urethra. As such, some embodiments include tension ring(s) or cylinders that sits either inside or outside the prostatic wall and is at least partially within the lumen and/or is partially or fully anchored, attached, adhered, or otherwise held in place with respect to the bladder or other locations within the urethra and/or elsewhere in the urethra. The expansion of the lumen can be pre-configured based on pre-operative metrology of the prostatic urethra to a customized and adjustable fit across the various zones within the urethra and based on the patient specific and evolving needs.

A suture to be used in producing a medical instrument provided with a sutured site such as a stent graft, an artificial blood vessel or an artificial heart valve, has two components, i.e., a high melting-point component and a low-melting point component, the difference between the melting points of components being 30° C. or more and the low-melting point component is exposed on the suture surface entirely along the length direction. When a medical material formed of a fabric or a film is sutured or knotted with the suture and then the suture site is heated at such a temperature not allowing the high-melting point component but the low-melting point component alone to melt, the sutured site is fused and fixed. Thus, a knot or a seam, which sustains the fiber shape and strength and never becomes loose, can be formed.

A stent incorporating flexible, preferably polymeric, connecting elements into the stent wherein these elements connect adjacent, spaced-apart stent elements. Preferably the spaced-apart adjacent stent elements are the result of forming the stent from a helically wound serpentine wire having space provided between adjacent windings. Other stent forms such as multiple, individual spaced-apart ring-shaped or interconnected stent elements may also be used. The connecting elements are typically web-shaped and result from creating slits or apertures in a covering of graft material applied to the stent and then, for example, applying heat to cause the slits or apertures to enlarge. The remaining graft material forms the interconnecting webs between the adjacent stent elements.

A stent-graft, including a generally tubular vascular graft of biocompatible material, and a plurality of bio-resorbable discrete annular members spaced apart along a longitudinal axis of the vascular graft and attached thereto.

The embodiments disclosed herein relate to a ureteral stent having two stent bodies and a tether. The stent can minimize or prevent migration of the device out of the bladder of the patient while also reducing patient discomfort associated with such stents.

One aspect of the invention provides a flow-diverting system including: a first stent having a proximal end, a distal end and a first sidewall opening; and a second stent having a proximal end, a distal end and a second sidewall opening. The first sidewall opening is of sufficient size for the distal end of the second stent to pass from inside the first stent through the first sidewall opening. The second sidewall opening is of sufficient size for fluid flow from inside the second stent through the second sidewall opening into the first stent.

A system for treating a bifurcation includes first and second delivery catheters. The first catheter has a first shaft, a first expandable member adjacent the distal end of the first shaft, an auxiliary expandable member disposed under the first expandable member, and a first radially expandable stent disposed over both the first expandable member and the auxiliary expandable member. The second delivery catheter has a second shaft, and a second expandable member adjacent the distal end of the second shaft. A portion of the second catheter is disposed under a portion of the first stent, and a portion of the second delivery catheter passes through a side hole in the first stent. The first stent is crimped over the first and second catheters such that the first stent remains attached to the first and the second catheters during advancement of the catheters through a blood vessel.

An endovascular delivery system having an elongate outer tubular sheath, an elongate inner tubular member releasably disposed within the elongate outer tubular sheath and an elongate crossover guidewire slidably disposed within the elongate outer tubular sheath.

A visceral double-barreled main body stent graft and methods for its use, the stent graft comprises, a main body stent graft having distal and proximal ends, the main body stent graft's length ranges from about 100-120 mm and diameter at the proximal end ranges from about 30-45 mm, first and second lumens defined at the main body stent graft's distal end, the first lumen's diameter ranges from about 18-20 mm, the second lumen's diameter ranges from about 16-18 mm, the first and second lumens have about the same length from about 50-70 mm, the first lumen is secured to the second lumen along a shared length, and the main body stent graft defines a tubular wall that is contiguous with the first and second lumens such that any fluid entering the main body must exit through one of the first or second lumens.