Intrasaccular thin-film flow diverters and related methods

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a wire structure comprising a plurality of wires;

a thin-film mesh placed over a length of the wire structure;

a plurality of crimps configured to secure the thin-film mesh to the wire structure at corresponding crimp locations,

wherein a respective part of the wire structure and a respective part of the thin-film mesh between two adjacent crimps are configured to expand radially to form a thin film covered sphereoid structure, and wherein expanded parts of the thin-film mesh comprises pores; and

a first umbrella structure at one end of the wire structure.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a second umbrella structure at a remaining end of the wire structure, wherein the thin-film covered spheroid structure pushes the first umbrella structure and the second umbrella structure outwardly when compressed.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the wire structure comprises a braided wire or a laser-cut hypotube, and wherein the first umbrella structure comprises a braided wire or a lasercut hypotube.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus forms a plurality of thin-film covered sphereoid structures, each thin-film covered spheroid structure comprising a respective part of the wire structure and a respective part of the thin-film mesh between respective two adjacent crimps.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the thin-film mesh is a thin-film Nitinol (TFN) micromesh having a thickness of between 1 and 50 micrometers.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the thin-film mesh comprises slits having a length between 50 and 200 micrometers prior to expansion, wherein the slits open up to a corresponding diamond-shaped pore in response to expansion, and wherein the expanded thin-film mesh forms struts having a width between 1 to 25 micrometers around each pore.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pore density of the expanded thin-film mesh is between 81 and 1075 pore per mm2, and wherein the percent metal coverage of the expanded thin-film mesh is between 19 and 66%.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a wire structure comprising a plurality of wires and a plurality of crimps provided along the wire structure at corresponding crimp locations, wherein a respective part of the wire structure between two adjacent crimps is configured to expand radially to form a spheroid structure; and

a thin-film covered umbrella structure at one end of the wire structure comprising umbrella struts and a thin-film sheet attached to the umbrella struts.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising another umbrella structure at a remaining end of the body structure.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the wire structure comprises a braided wire or a laser-cut hypotube, and wherein the umbrella struts comprise a braided wire or a laser-cut hypotube.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the thin-film sheet is a thin-film Nitinol (TFN) sheet having a thickness of between 1 and 50 micrometers.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the thin-film sheet is a thin-film mesh comprising pores.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the thin-film mesh comprises slits having a length between 50 and 200 micrometers prior to expansion, wherein the slits open up to a corresponding diamond-shaped pore in response to expansion, and wherein the expanded thin-film mesh forms struts having a width between 1 to 25 micrometers around each pore.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the pore density of the thin-film mesh is between 81 and 1075 pore per mm2, and wherein the percent metal coverage of the thin-film mesh is between 19 and 66%.

15. A method, comprising:

placing a thin-film mesh over a part of a wire structure;

attaching the thin-film mesh to the wire structure at a plurality of locations along the wire structure by crimping the thin-film mesh at the plurality of locations to form an intrasaccular flow diverter;

compressing the wire structure along a longitudinal axis of the wire structure;

in response to the compressing of the wire structure, expanding the wire structure and the thin-film mesh between each of the crimp locations radially to form a corresponding thin-film covered spheroid structure, wherein the thin-film mesh forms pores in response to the expansion; and

shape setting the intrasaccular flow diverter,

wherein the shape setting comprises forming an umbrella structure at one end of the wire structure.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the thin-film mesh is a thin-film Nitinol (TFN) mesh, the method further comprising:

deep reactive ion etching a micropattern of trenches on a surface of a substrate, the trenches corresponding to slits of the TFN mesh to be formed;

depositing a lift-off layer on the substrate surface;

depositing a first Nitinol layer over the lift-off layer;

depositing a sacrificial layer over the first Nitinol layer leaving edges along the longitudinal axis exposed;

depositing a second Nitinol layer over the sacrificial layer; and

etching the lift-off layer and the sacrificial layer to form the TFN mesh comprising the slits, wherein the slits open to a corresponding one of the pores in response to the expanding of the wire structure and the TFN mesh.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the expanding forms a series of thin-film covered spheroid structures, and wherein the shape setting comprises shaping the series of thin-film covered spheroid structures into a helical shape or a spheroid shape.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising placing the intrasaccular flow diverter in a catheter.