referring to fig1 a preferred embodiment of a stent according to the present invention is shown and generally designated by reference numeral 10 . the stent 10 comprises a coiled cord 50 of non - metallic material , preferably a polymer fiber or ply of multiple polymer fibers , wherein the polymer preferably comprises poly - l - lactic acid (“ plla ”). the use of plla to construct the stent 10 is advantageous because it is biodegradable . it degrades away gradually within the body , the chemical products of the degradation process being primarily carbon dioxide and water , which are harmless to the host patient . degradation occurs over a period of about six months to three years , mainly depending on the molecular weight of the polymer employed . plla is also advantageous because it can be impregnated with drugs or other chemical agents for local treatment of tissue at the stent implant site . byway of example , the stent 10 of fig1 is constructed with twelve coil rotations of a single - fiber cord , each rotation having one central lobe 20 and three peripheral lobes 30 . the twelve central lobes 20 form the backbone of the stent 10 . three longitudinal rods 40 are attached on the exterior surface of the central lobes 20 , preferably using a viscous plla - chloroform solution . the rods 40 may comprise the same single - fiber material as the coil of lobes 20 and 30 . alternatively , the coil of lobes 20 and 30 and the rods 40 may comprise a multiple - fiber ply material . for example , the coil of lobes 20 and 30 may be formed from a double - fiber ply material , and each of the three rods 40 may be formed from a triple - fiber ply material for added rigidity . also , by way of example , the length of inventive stent is 15 mm and the initial diameter is 1 . 9 mm . in this example , the final diameter , after balloon expansion , can reach 3 . 24 mm . the length of the stent can be increased by increasing the number of coil rotations . the peripheral and central lobe diameters determine the final diameter of the stent . to assure mechanical integrity , it is preferred that the coiled lobes 20 and 30 of the stent 10 be formed from a single cord that is continuous end - to - end . the mechanical strength of the stent 10 can easily be varied ( 1 ) by adjusting the coil density ; or ( 2 ) by adjusting the fiber ply . in practice , a stent with 15 coil rotations and a length of 15 mm will be stronger than a stent of the same length with 12 rotations . however , a stent in which the cord 50 is composed of a multiple - fiber ply will have higher resistance to radial compression . a double - fiber ply will have about twice the radial compression resistance of a single - fiber construction , and triple - fiber ply will have about three times the radial compression resistance of a single - fiber construction . additionally , the diameter of the stent 10 can be adjusted ( 1 ) by adjusting the diameter of central and peripheral lobes ; or ( 2 ) by adjusting the number of multiple peripheral lobes per central lobe . the stent diameter increases as the diameter of central and peripheral lobes increases , and vise versa . it will also be appreciated that more peripheral lobes with the same diameter results in a stent of larger diameter in its fully expanded state . the above - described design provides an excellent way to maximize the expandability of a polymeric stent . the major difference between metal and polymeric stent materials is that metal is more malleable and generally has a greater tensile strength . thus , a metal wire can be deformed without affecting mechanical strength . in contrast , a polymer fiber cord cannot retain its original mechanical strength following permanent deformation ( bending , for example ). despite the lower mechanical strength of polymeric materials relative to metals , the polymeric stent of the present invention has sufficient strength to retain its shape in the expanded state , thereby stabilizing the vessel or duct wall for the intended purposes as with a conventional metal stent . in accordance with an important concept of the invention , an extra length of cord is provided by the peripheral lobes to facilitate expansion from the furled state to the final large - diameter state . if the desired final length of the stent in the furled , multiple - lobe configuration is known , stents can be prepared using the exact same initial length of cord . after expansion , the final deployed length is achieved without damaging cord . it will be appreciated that this approach to stent design and fabrication provides a polymeric stent with excellent mechanical strength and flexibility for effective implantation . according to another important feature of the invention , the longitudinal rods 40 provide support for the flexible coiled cord 50 . furthermore , the longitudinal rods 40 maintain the axial length of the stent 10 constant as its radial dimension increases during expansion . solid wall tubular stents have the practical limitations that they are relatively inflexible , making it difficult for them to pass through sometimes tortuous vessel networks . this is because their relatively rigid cylindrical structure reduces the freedom to bend in all directions . in this invention , the integrity of the stent 10 is maintained by the longitudinal rods 40 , three in embodiment of fig1 preferably arranged at 120 ° intervals . therefore , the expandable stent 10 has the inherent flexibility of a coil design yet has sufficient rigidity for effective handling due to the presence of the longitudinal rods 40 . the advantages of this design compared with currently available clinical metal models will be readily apparent to the skilled practitioner . it should be mentioned that the number of longitudinal reinforcing rods can be selected based on the number of peripheral lobes that design considerations dictate . preferably , the longitudinally aligned groups of peripheral lobes are equal in number to the longitudinal reinforcing rods , which are alternately positioned so that each rod is midway between its two neighboring peripheral lobe groups . in fig1 the preferred arrangement is illustrated in which there are three longitudinal reinforcing rods 40 and three longitudinally aligned groups of peripheral lobes 30 . prototypes of the inventive stent have been constructed using a fixture and manually winding a fiber cord in a spiral fashion along the fixture . the fixture employed included a central cylindrical mandrel attached to a base at one end , and three cylindrical side posts attached to the base and extending along and parallel to the mandrel , the posts being circumferentially spaced around the mandrel at 120 ° intervals . the stent is constructed by attaching one end of the cord to the free end of the mandrel , then winding the cord around the mandrel , and successively looping the cord around the posts moving downward toward the base until twelve rotations of the mandrel have been completed . periodically during the winding process , each of three longitudinal rods 40 are attached to the central lobes 20 in the manner depicted in fig1 . upon completion , the stent is slidably removed from the mandrel and side posts . design of an automated system is contemplated for reducing the labor - intensive winding process used to make the prototype stents . the stent delivery and deployment system is based on conventional balloon catheter delivery systems used currently in clinical angioplasty . therefore , the stent of the present invention can be implanted in practice using much of the conventional clinical deployment techniques used with metal stents . fig2 a - d illustrate the procedure of stent expansion and the structure of an expanded stent . in fig2 a , the stent 10 is in its small - diameter furled state , which enables the stent 10 to readily travel through a vessel to a site where it is to be deployed . a balloon 60 , shown in phantom , is provided inside the stent 10 to effect expansion . in this end view , the symmetrical spacing of the three rods 40 with the three longitudinally aligned groups of peripheral lobes 30 can be envisioned more clearly when considered together with fig1 . in the small - diameter furled state , it will be seen that the central lobes 20 viewed from the end of the stent 10 are generally triangular in shape . thus , the term “ small - diameter ” is used herein to describe the relative size of the stent 10 in the original furled state , the “ diameter ” this context being the effective diameter of a circle or imaginary cylinder tangentially contacting the outer ends of the peripheral lobes 30 . in fig2 b , the stent 10 is starting to expand under the force of the expanding balloon 60 , as indicated by the arrows . for comparison , dashed lines are provided in fig2 b to show the configuration of the stent 10 in its original furled state as depicted in fig2 a . in fig2 c , the stent 10 is shown in its large - diameter , fully expanded state , in which the peripheral lobes 30 ( shown in fig2 a and 2b ) have disappeared , their cord lengths having merged into the central lobe 20 of each of the twelve coils . experimental data reveals that the stent 10 expands uniformly under increasing balloon pressure until it reaches its final diameter . the terms “ final diameter ” and “ large - diameter ” are used to describe the relative size of the stent 10 in its fully expanded state as depicted in fig2 c , the “ diameter ” being the effective diameter of a circle or imaginary cylinder tangentially contacting the outer edges of the longitudinal rods 40 . fig2 c is not drawn to an accurate relative scale compared to fig2 a . in practice , it has been found that sufficient cord length can be provided in the peripheral lobes 30 to cause the effective diameter of the stent 10 to approximately double in size going from the original furled state of fig2 a to the final fully expanded state of fig2 c . [ 0026 ] fig2 d shows the stent 10 with the balloon removed in its large - diameter state and also depicts the longitudinal rods 40 in their 120 ° spaced peripheral positions along the length of the stent 10 . the helical nature of the stent 10 in its fully expanded state is evident in fig2 d . though the central lobes 20 are derived from a single cord of polymeric material that generally defines a helix in the fully expanded state , each lobe 20 can be viewed as one 360 ° length of cord with a leading end and a trailing end spaced apart by one - twelfth ( in the case of a twelve - lobe stent ) of the length of the stent 10 . for example , to illustrate this concept , the first lobe 20 a at the right end of the stent 10 of fig2 d has a leading end 70 and a trailing end 80 . the trailing end 80 of the first lobe 20 a corresponds to the leading end of the second lobe 20 b . the pattern continues through the length of the stent 10 , each lobe &# 39 ; s trailing end corresponding to the next successive lobe &# 39 ; s leading end until the last lobe is reached , whose trailing end ( not shown in fig2 d ) is the free end of the cord 50 at the left end of the stent 10 . it will be appreciated from fig1 and 2a that the stent 10 in its original furled state has a more complex shape . from the example shown in fig2 a , it will be appreciated that each central lobe 20 has three peripheral lobes 30 , a leading one of which being defined by a portion of the cord 50 that adjoins the leading end of the corresponding central lobe 20 , a trailing one of which being defined by a portion of the cord 50 that adjoins the trailing end of the corresponding central lobe 20 , and the last of the three peripheral lobes 30 being defined by a portion of the cord 50 at an intermediate point of the corresponding central lobe 20 . the stent 10 of the present invention can be adapted to a broad range of inflation pressures from 3 to 10 atm ( a maximum pressure possibly even exceeding 10 atm ). experimental data has shown that , using a double - fiber ply stent , full expansion occurs at about 3 atm , and that the fully expanded diameter is stably maintained at inflation pressures of up to 10 atm . in the above - described example , the stent 10 has limited recoil about 4 % when in an unstressed condition . the collapsing pressure holds at least up to 16 psi ( i . e ., greater than 1 atm ), which is comparable to conventional metal stents . it will be appreciated that the preferred plla fibers preferably used for the stent fabrication can be loaded with a non - steroid type anti - inflammation agent , such as curcumin . the curcumin - loaded fibers significantly reduce inflammation at the stent implant site by reducing the adhesion of inflammatory cells . other drugs can be used with the expandable biodegradable polymer stent of the present invention . the impregnated drugs can be prepared in a way that controllably delivers the drug over a predetermined time period . [ 0030 ] fig3 a and 3b show an alternate embodiment of the inventive stent , generally designated by reference numeral 100 . the stent 100 has a furled state shown in fig3 a in which the fiber coils are tightly furled and central lobes 120 ( one shown ) are confined to a small diameter . there are three peripheral lobes per coil , which are designated by numerals 130 and , in this embodiment , are located inside the central lobes 120 . as in the previously - described embodiment of the stent 10 shown in fig1 there may be twelve coils , which are formed from a continuous cord and extend longitudinally to define the body of the stent 100 . each coil has a large central lobe 120 and three internally - disposed peripheral lobes 130 , shown in fig3 a . as in the previously described stent 10 , the stent 100 has longitudinally extending rods 140 that support the coil structure . when the stent 100 is expanded as shown in fig3 b , the peripheral lobes merge into a single large - diameter central lobe 120 for each of the twelve coils of the stent 100 . using this construction of internal peripheral lobes 130 , the ratio of the final expanded stent diameter to the initial furled stent diameter can be greater than a factor of two . those skilled in the art will appreciate that the inventive stent , in its disclosed embodiments or variations thereof , provides mechanical and therapeutic advantages over conventional stents . in addition , advantageous treatments will suggest themselves to the skilled practitioner considering the foregoing description of the invention . by virtue of the biodegradable polymeric nature of the inventive stent , the same vessel site can be retreated at a later time if needed , including staging procedures during growth of the patient . similarly , successive treatments of a tissue that is changing size can be facilitated with the disclosed stent . it should also be noted that the inventive stent can be implanted at a site of healthy tissue for diagnostic purposes or therapeutic treatment of adjacent tissue . although preferred embodiments have been described and illustrated , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions and alterations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .
an expandable biodegradable polymeric stent is fabricated with biodegradable polymer fibers in a coil shape that is constructed with both central and external or internal peripheral lobes . it is delivered and expanded using a conventional angioplasty balloon system . the disclosed stent can serve as a temporary scaffold for coronary vessels after ptca or for peripheral endovascular stenting , or it can provide mechanical palliation for strictures of ductile organs . the disclosed stent also serves as a unique device for specific local drug delivery . therapeutic agents and cells can be loaded into the stent and gradually released to target tissues . local radiation therapy can also be delivered by a specially adapted stent .