Inventors:
Shawn Thayer Huxel - Lawrenceville NJ, US
Arindam Datta - Hillsborough NJ, US
Yufu Li - Bridgewater NJ, US
Dennis D. Jamiolkowski - Long Valley NJ, US
Emil Richard Skula - Wayne NJ, US
Assignee:
Ethicon, Inc. - Somerville NJ
International Classification:
A61F 2/06
A16M 5/00
US Classification:
623 122, 623 146, 623 138, 604 8
Abstract:
A removable stent for implantation into a lumen in a human body. The stent is made from a soft, flexible fiber having an outer surface. An outer bioabsorbable/degradable coating is applied to the outer surface of the filament causing it to become rigid. The coating softens in vivo through absorption and/or degradation such that the stent is readily passed or removed from the lumen as a softened filament after a pre-determined period of time through normal flow of body fluids passing through the lumen or by manual removal.