A deployment apparatus and method for deploying one or more stents to a bifurcated vessel is provided. The invention is particularly suited for T-type bifurcated vessels where a side branch extends from a main branch. The deployment apparatus has a primary inflatable portion for engagement within the main branch and a secondary inflatable portion for engagement within the side branch. A main stent is arranged on the primary inflatable portion and radially expanded within the main branch while the secondary inflatable portion maintains registration with the side branch. A side branch stent is then arranged on the secondary inflatable portion and expanded within the side branch while the primary inflatable portion maintains registration with the expanded main stent. A bifurcated stent system suitable for bifurcated lesions is also provided comprising a side branch stent with a shaped end designed to engage a similarly shaped side opening in a main stent.

There is disclosed a method of treating hypoxia in tissue of a blood vessel, the method comprising placing a stent in the vessel, the stent having a centre line which curves in three dimensions to promote the supply of oxygen from the blood flowing in the lumen of the stented vessel to the vessel wall. There is disclosed a method of treating a subject with diabetic atherosclerosis, the method comprising placing a stent in a blood vessel of the subject, the stent having a centre line which curves in three dimensions to promote the supply of oxygen from the blood flowing in the lumen of the stented vessel to the vessel wall.

A heart valve system, the system including a radially self-expandable tubular body and a valve. The tubular body having an inflow end and an outflow end, and the tubular body including a proximal-most end at the inflow end and a distal-most end at the outflow end. The tubular body including a plurality of arched beams at the outflow end of the tubular body such that the arched beams form the distal-most end of the tubular body. Connection points linking the inflow end of the tubular body and the arched beams, a number of connection points being equivalent to a number of the valve leaflets. Each arched beam being directly attached to an adjacent arched beam such that the arched beams are continuous along the entire circumference of the tubular body at the outflow end. The valve being coupled to the tubular body and including a plurality of valve leaflets.

A rod (508) is transfemorally advanceable to the heart. An implant (460) comprises (i) a first frame (462), compressed around a first longitudinal site of a distal portion of the rod, (ii) a second frame (464), compressed around a third longitudinal site of the distal portion, (iii) a valve member (50), disposed within the second frame, and (iv) a flexible sheet (466), coupling the first frame to the second frame, and disposed around a second longitudinal site of the distal portion, the second longitudinal site being between the first longitudinal site and the third longitudinal site. An extracorporeal controller (569) is coupled to a proximal portion of the rod, and is operably coupled to the distal portion of the rod. Operating the controller bends the distal portion of the rod causing articulation between the frames. Other embodiments are also described.

A stent may include a tubular stent body having a lumen extending therethrough. The stent may further include an anchor portion attached to an end of the tubular stent body, where the lumen continues through the anchor portion, and where the anchor portion includes at least one opening configured to facilitate tissue ingrowth. The anchor portion may be detachable from the tubular stent body while the stent is in a deployed state.

An open stent (a stent having open space through its thickness at locations between the ends of the 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 preferably longitudinally oriented.

The invention relates to stents, in particular to a stent assembly for insertion in a vessel of a human or animal body.

The invention also relates to a catheter stent insertion device for inserting a stent assembly according to the invention in a vessel of a human or animal body.

The invention also relates to a method for inserting a stent assembly according to the invention in a vessel of a human or animal body using a catheter stent insertion device according to the invention.

A bioabsorbable composite stent structure, comprising bioabsorbable polymeric ring structures which retain a molecular weight and mechanical strength of a starting substrate and one or more interconnecting struts which extend between and couple adjacent ring structures. The ring structures can have a formed first diameter and being radially compressible to a smaller second diameter and re-expandable to the first diameter. The ring structures can comprise a base polymeric layer. The interconnecting struts can be formed from a polymer blend or co-polymer of poly-L-lactide (PLLA) and an elastomeric polymer. The interconnecting struts each can have a width that is less than a circumference of one of the ring structures. The adjacent ring structures can be axially and rotationally movable relative to one another via the interconnecting struts. The interconnecting struts can also be bioabsorbable.

The present disclosure provides a pulmonary artery stent. The pulmonary artery stent includes: a metal stent capable of circumferential expansion; and an isolation membrane wrapping the metal stent to isolate the metal stent from an external environment, and the isolation membrane having a circumferential tensile strength less than an axial tensile strength. The embodiments of the present disclosure can not only expand the diameter of the stent according to a change in the diameter of a blood vessel to meet a support performance requirement after the blood vessel enlarges but also isolate the metal portion of the stent from a vascular environment, thus effectively solving a problem of in-stent restenosis.

A stent apparatus, system, and method that senses wall shear stress by measuring fluid flow at localized areas within the stent, that processes measured information through an integrated circuit, and selectively sends power to mechanically controllable stent surfaces which results in localized geometric changes. In various embodiments the stent apparatus, system, and method sends data to outside the body in real time.