Circumferentially nested expandable device
View Patent ↗Expandable medical implants for maintaining support of a body lumen are disclosed. These implants comprise a circumferentially nested, diametrically expandable, moveable vascular device for enlarging an occluded portion of a vessel. The device can be configured to allow for motion such as rotating, translating, and/or slide and lock. One advantage of the circumferentially nested stent is that it maintains the expanded size, without significant recoil.
1. A circumferentially nested scissor stent being expandable from a collapsed state to an expanded state, the stent comprising a tubular member having longitudinal and circumferential axes, the tubular member comprising:
at least one linkage section being disposed along the circumferential axis, the linkage section comprising at least one structural element, the structural element comprising:
first and second bars each having first and second ends, the bars being disposed along the circumferential axis of the tubular member, the bars being rotatably connected at the first ends thereof to form a coupling, the first bar having an aperture disposed through a portion of the first end thereof; and
an articulating member having first and second ends, the first end of the articulating member being connected to the first end of the second bar adjacent the coupling with the articulating member extending upwardly from therefrom into the aperture of the first bar, the articulating member having a plurality of teeth disposed therealong, the teeth being sized and configured to engage the aperture for providing one-way translational withdrawal of the articulating member from the aperture upon angular separation of the first bar from the second bar;
wherein the first bar is positionable substantially circumferentially adjacent to the second bar when the stent is in the unexpanded state, the first bar being separable from the second bar upon angular rotation of the first bar with respect to the second bar at the coupling thereby expanding the stent to the expanded state, the one-way translational withdrawal of the articulating member from the aperture maintaining angular displacement between the first and second bars at the coupling in order to prevent collapse of the stent to the collapsed state upon being expanded to the expanded state.
2. The stent of claim 1 wherein the linkage section includes a plurality of structural elements being rotatably connected to form a plurality of couplings, wherein each structural element includes an articulating member corresponding to each coupling.