Importance

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Abstract

A stent deployment system includes a delivery catheter, a dilation balloon disposed at the distal end of the delivery catheter, and a stent deployment mechanism disposed at a predetermined distance from the dilation balloon. The delivery catheter includes a plurality of markers at the proximal end that are used to gauge the movement of the delivery catheter and to align the dilation balloon and stent deployment mechanism with a target region in a vessel, such as a lesion or blocked region. The stent deployment method includes introducing the delivery catheter into the vessel until the dilation balloon is aligned with the target region, and inflating the dilation balloon to predilate the target region. The delivery catheter is then advanced until the stent deployment mechanism is aligned with the predilated target region using the markers on the proximal end of the delivery catheter. When properly aligned with the predilated target region, the stent deployment mechanism deploys the stent against the target region of the vessel. The delivery catheter is then withdrawn until the dilation balloon is again aligned with the stent deployed in the target region, and the dilation balloon is inflated to post-dilate or further embed the stent into the target region of the vessel.

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First Claim