Stent pattern for polymeric stents

Abstract

A stent having a stent pattern including a plurality of cylindrical rings, each ring including a plurality of diamond-shaped cells having four curved elements defining apices of the diamond-shaped cells is disclosed herein.

1 . A stent having a stent pattern comprising:
 a plurality of cylindrical rings,   each ring including a plurality of diamond-shaped cells having four curved elements defining apices of the diamond-shaped cells,   wherein a first and a second bar arm forming a longitudinally aligned curved element of the four curved elements and a third and a fourth bar arm forming an opposing longitudinally aligned curved element of the four curved elements,   wherein the first and the third bar arm form a circumferentially aligned curved element of the four curved elements and the second and the fourth bar arms form an opposing circumferentially aligned curved element of the four curved elements; and   a plurality of linear bar arms parallel with a longitudinal axis of the stent connecting adjacent rings,   wherein at least one linear bar arm connects an intersection of two circumferentially adjacent diamond-shaped cells with an intersection of two circumferentially adjacent diamond-shaped cells on an adjacent ring.   
     
     
         2 . The stent of  claim 1 , wherein a radius of curvature of the opposing longitudinally aligned curved elements is between 0.004 in and 0.006 in. 
     
     
         3 . The stent of  claim 1 , wherein curved elements between circumferentially adjacent cells have a radius of curvature of between 0.0025 in and 0.004 in. 
     
     
         4 . The stent of  claim 1 , wherein curved elements between linear bar arms and adjacent bar arms of the diamond-shaped cells have a radius of curvature of between 0.004 in and 0.006 in. 
     
     
         5 . The stent of  claim 1 , wherein every other intersection is connected with a linear bar arm of the at least one linear bar arms. 
     
     
         6 . The stent of  claim 1 , wherein the stent pattern has six diamond-shaped cells around its circumference. 
     
     
         7 . The stent of  claim 1 , wherein a ratio of an outer circumference of the stent to the number of diamond-shaped cells around a circumference of the stent is 0.044 in/cell. 
     
     
         8 . The stent of  claim 1 , wherein the stent is allowed to be crimped or expanded through flexing of bending elements. 
     
     
         9 . The stent of  claim 8 , wherein the bending elements comprise the longitudinally aligned curved elements of the diamond-shaped cells between the first and second bar arms and the third and fourth bar arms. 
     
     
         10 . The stent of  claim 8 , wherein the bending elements comprise curved elements between the first and second bar arms of cylindrically adjacent diamond-shaped cells. 
     
     
         11 . The stent of  claim 8 , wherein the bending elements comprise curved elements between bar arms of the diamond-shaped cells and the linking bar arms.