with reference to fig1 the self - expanding intraluminal prosthesis or stent is identified generally by numeral 10 and is seen to include a generally tubular member 12 having a pair of opposed ends 14 and 16 and a fenestrated wall surface 18 . the stent of fig1 may be formed in a molding operation or , alternatively , may be created from a solid tube by laser or water - jet cutting the pattern of apertures so as to leave non - woven , non - braided intersecting thread - like strips as at 20 and 22 therebetween . it is to be noted that the strips are integrally joined in the same plane rather than overlapping one another as with a braided stent . the material from which the stent 10 is formed is preferably a thermoplastic having a high modulus of elasticity such that when it is subjected to inwardly directed radial forces uniformly applied over its surface , it will collapse to a lesser diameter but then spring back when the radial compressive forces are removed . a variety of medical - grade plastics are available which exhibit a high modulus of elasticity and which may be employed in fabricating the self - expanding stents of the present invention . for example , nylon or a suitable polyester or acetal homopolymer may be used . various manufacturing methods are available for fabricating the stent in accordance with this invention . prototypes have been produced by appropriately mounting a solid tube of plastic on a mandrel and then , using a laser , the fenestrations or apertures are cut through the thickness dimension of the wall , leaving a plurality of coplanar intersecting strands creating contiguous rhombic apertures . the intersecting strands are integrally joined at their points of intersection and , hence , are precluded from moving or shifting relative to one another at their union . with no particular limitation intended , each of the individual strands 20 , 22 may be 0 . 015 in . thick in the radial direction and 0 . 010 in . wide in the circumferential direction . the laser may be computer - controlled , insuring accurate spacing and precise line definition . in a production setting , it is contemplated that the stents of the present invention may be formed in a molding operation which results in very low - cost production in comparison to the laser cutting method . referring next to fig2 through 4 , at the time of manufacture , the diameter of the stent 10 is purposely oversized compared to the size of the lumen in which it is intended ultimately to be implanted . for example , it may be designed to initially have an outside diameter , d 1 , as shown in fig2 . prior to insertion into the lumen of the hollow body organ to be supported , the stent of fig2 is radially compressed into an insertion tool and will collapse as shown in fig3 to exhibit a significantly lower diameter , d 2 . when the tool and stent have been routed through the body lumen to the location where the stent is to be placed , it is released from the tool and allowed to expand to an intermediate diameter , d 3 , which is less than diameter , d 1 , ( due to plastic deformation ) sufficient to still provide support to the walls of the tubular organ which , in fig4 is identified by numeral 24 . while collapsing the stent to its smallest diameter , d 2 , ( fig3 ) results in some measure of plastic deformation , by originally over - sizing the stent as shown in fig2 it is capable of self - expansion to a working diameter , d 3 , as shown in fig4 . in fact , the stent is preferably designed such that when in position within the body organ , it will continue to exert a slight outward force against the internal walls of the body organ , thus tending to maintain the stent in position and reducing the tendency of the stent to migrate . alternatively , appropriately disposed , radially - projecting finger - like barbs may be incorporated to resist such migration . such a stent is depicted in fig6 . with the barbs centrally disposed on the stent , there is less tendency for the stent to migrate than if the barbs extend from one of the stent &# 39 ; s ends . by loading the stent of fig2 into its insertion tool and thereby reducing its size to that shown in fig3 immediately prior to the implantation thereof , creep deformation , which is time dependent , is minimized . fig7 illustrates by means of a graph the change in length of the stent of the present invention with changes in stent diameter ( curve 24 ) as contrasted to a braided metal stent made by applicants &# 39 ; assignee in accordance with the aforereferenced wallsten u . s . pat . no . 4 , 655 , 771 and sold under the trademark , urolume , ( curve 26 ). as is indicated by the curves , a 50 % reduction in diameter due to radial compression of the stent of the present invention results in a length change of less than 10 % and more particularly , approximately 5 %. a corresponding reduction in diameter of the urolume stent results in a length change of about 115 %. thus , if the dimension d 1 is 10 mm and it is compressed down to a dimension d 2 of 5 mm ( a 50 % reduction ), a stent originally 26 mm long would lengthen to 27 . 3 mm whereas in the case of the urolume stent , it would lengthen from 26 mm to 55 . 9 mm . when contrasted to the prior art wallsten - type stent , then , the one of the present invention can be said to have no significant change in length upon either radial compression or radial expansion . this fact become very important when accurate positioning of the stent in a tubular body vessel is required . in the stent shown in fig1 the openings are shaped like a rhombus . good results have been achieved when the acute angles thereof are in the range of from 40 ° to 60 ° such that the corresponding obtuse angles fall into the range of from 140 ° to 120 °. computer analysis has shown that this shape results in a concentration of stress forces at the points of intersection of the strands where they are integrally joined . by shaping the openings as shown in the stent of fig5 the stress concentration points are significantly reduced . the apertures or openings in fig5 may be described as those which result when the strands defining those openings have a sinusoidal pattern and where the negative peaks of a first strand are integrally joined to the positive peak of an adjacent strand . because the apertures resemble the eye opening of a human , for ease in description , they are referred to herein as eye - shaped apertures . because the intersecting strands remaining following the effective removal of the material comprising the apertures are integrally joined at their points of intersection , the opposed ends of the stent are free of sharp points which occur when a braided tube structure of the type disclosed in the wallsten patent is cut to a desired length . hence , the stent of the present invention is less traumatic to tissue at the time of its implantation . moreover , being fabricated from a material like delrin ® plastic , it can readily be trimmed to a desired length or end - shape configuration by the surgeon at the time of implantation or later . by forming the stent of the present invention from a suitable thermoplastic material and by introducing an additive to the material , its electrical conductivity can be made comparable to that of the tissue in which the stent will become embedded . should it become necessary or desirable to later remove the stent device , an appropriate electrosurgical instrument may be used to cut through both the involved tissue and the stent material so that the pieces resulting can be withdrawn through the body lumen in which the stent had been positioned . the heating produced by the electrosurgical instrument when sufficient to cut through tissue will also have the ability to cut through the plastic strands comprising the stent of the present invention . the fact that the conductivity of the tissue and the stent material are approximately the same results in greater uniformity and control of the electrosurgical current as the resection takes place . not only can the conductivity characteristics of the plastic stent material be modified , but it is also contemplated that certain drugs can be incorporated on or in the material for subsequent slow - release into adjacent tissue or into the bloodstream , depending upon the site of the stent implant . this invention has been described herein in considerable detail in order to comply with the patent statutes and to provide those skilled in the art with the information needed to apply the novel principles and to construct and use such specialized components as are required . however , it is to be understood that the invention can be carried out by specifically different equipment and devices , and that various modifications , both as to the equipment details and operating procedures , can be accomplished without departing from the scope of the invention itself .
a stent for transluminal implantation comprising a single - piece tubular member having a fenestrated side wall exhibiting a pattern of uniformly spaced openings defined by intersecting strands where the strands are integrally joined together at their points of intersection whereby the tubular member can be radially compressed from a larger diameter to a smaller diameter by the application of a uniform inwardly directed radial force and which self - expands to a larger diameter when the radial compressive force is removed . the compression and subsequent self - expansion occurs without an appreciable change in the stent &# 39 ; s length . by forming the stent from a thermoplastic material , it may later be resected by carving it up into small pieces preferably using an electrosurgical instrument .