A left coronary artery (“LCA”) stent system includes: a first guidewire having a first diameter; a second guidewire having a second diameter, which may be the same or different than the first diameter; a left main (“LM”) stent assembly including (i) a catheter including a saline/contrast solution lumen and a guidewire lumen sized to accept both the first and second guidewire diameters of the first and second guidewires, and (ii) an LM stent sized to be deployed within a patient's LM; a left anterior descending artery (“LAD”) stent assembly for insertion through a deployed LM stent and along the first guidewire; and a circumflex artery (“LCx”) stent assembly for insertion through the deployed LM stent and along the second guidewire.

A venous stent may be used to maintain or enhance patency of a blood vessel. 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. The stent elements are formed from a bioresorbable polymer material. The stent elements may have thick and/or wide struts and may be deployed oversized so as to overcome venous elastic recoil and anatomic compression.

A stent delivery system for treating a bifurcated vessel includes a first elongate shaft with a first expandable member. A first stent having a side hole is disposed over the first expandable member. A second elongate shaft has a second expandable member. The second elongate shaft is slidably disposed under the proximal end of the first stent and extends out of the side hole. The first stent is fully crimped over a proximal portion and a distal portion of the first expandable member and a proximal portion of the second expandable member so as to prevent axial movement of the first stent relative to the first or second elongate shafts during delivery. Portions of the first or second expandable members may be pillowed to provide a protective barrier that prevents edges of the stent from catching on other objects.

Stent delivery device including an inner member having a distal tip, a stent support member, and a stent disposed over a stent receiving region of the stent support member. An elongated outer sheath is slidably disposed over the inner member and the stent. The stent delivery device includes a distal junction removably coupling the distal end of the outer sheath to the distal tip, where the distal junction is actuatable to decouple the outer sheath from the distal tip. The stent delivery device includes a proximal junction removably coupling a distal portion of the outer sheath to a proximal portion of the outer sheath, where the proximal junction is actuatable to decouple the distal portion of the outer sheath from the proximal portion of the outer sheath. The distal and proximal junctions may be separately actuatable by rotating the inner member relative to the proximal portion of the outer sheath.

Barrett's esophagus is a serious complication of GERD. It is characterized by the replacement of the normal stratified squamous epithelium lining of the esophagus by simple columnar epithelium with goblet cells (which are usually found lower in the gastrointestinal tract). A method comprising deploying multiple stents to cause pressure ischemia and subsequent necrosis of the mucosal layer of the esophagus which is affected with the Barrett's disease is disclosed. A pair of implantable stents having specific characteristics is disclosed which can be deployed in the esophagus to cause necrosis of the mucosal layer of the esophagus through induction pressure.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, a stent is described having a generally cylindrical body formed from a single woven nitinol wire. The distal and proximal ends of the stent include a plurality of loops, some of which include marker members used for visualizing the position of the stent. In another embodiment, the previously described stent includes an inner flow diverting layer.

A modular valve prosthesis includes an anchor stent and a valve component. The anchor stent includes a self-expanding tubular frame member configured to be deployed in the aorta and a proximal arm component extending from a proximal end of the tubular frame member and configured to be deployed in the sinuses of the aortic valve. The anchor stent further includes attachment members extending from an internal surface of the tubular frame member. The valve component includes a valve frame configured to be deployed within the tubular frame member of the anchor stent such that the valve frame engages with the attachment members of the tubular frame member and a prosthetic valve coupled to the valve frame.

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. The distance between stent elements 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.

The invention relates to an insertion system for an implant (1) for influencing the blood flow in the region of aneurysms (22) located at vascular bifurcations. The implant (1) has two distal tubular implant portions (2) which are intended to be placed in blood vessels (21) branching off from the stem blood vessel (20) and which are connected to one another at a branching point (4). The insertion system has two sleeves (5) which are each designed to hold a distal tubular implant portion (2). The two sleeves (5) each have a distal sleeve portion (6) and the distal sleeve portions (6) each have an opening zone (7) extending in the longitudinal direction. The distal sleeve portions (6) are each adjoined proximally by a proximal portion (8), by means of which the sleeves (5) can be retracted in the proximal direction so that the opening zones (7) open and the distal tubular implant portions (2) each pass through the opening zones (7) and are released into the branching blood vessels (21). Alternatively, it is also possible to use an individual sleeve which has an opening zone for gradual release of the implant (1) or an insertion system with the implant (1) releasably attached to the outside.

A medical implant (20) includes first and second ring members (22, 24), each including a resilient framework (26) having a generally cylindrical form. A tubular sleeve (28) is fixed to the first and second ring members so as to hold the ring members in mutual longitudinal alignment, thereby defining a lumen (32) passing through the ring members. A constricting element (30) is fit around the sleeve at a location intermediate the first and second ring members so as to reduce a diameter of the lumen at the location.