Appliance to be implanted, method of collapsing the appliance to be implanted and method of using the appliance to be implanted

Claim 1

An appliance to be implanted, comprising a front end wire ring, a rear end wire ring arranged facing to said front end wire ring, a tubular cover which connects said front end wire ring and said rear end wire ring, and a plurality of intermediate wire rings spaced apart from each other between the front end wire ring and the rear end wire ring, in which each of the wire rings is given flexibly foldable elasticity, wherein each of said front end, rear end, and intermediate wire rings has an arrangement in which it can be folded into a wavy shape having a same phase and forming forwardly directed peaks and bottoms of forwardly directed valleys alternatively and continuously, wherein the circumference of each intermediate wire ring is fixed to the tubular cover by suturing or with adhesive at respective positions, each respective position corresponding to a midpoint between a forwardly directed peak and a bottom of the adjacent forwardly directed valley.

Claim 8

A method of collapsing an appliance to be implanted, comprising a front end wire ring, a rear end wire ring arranged facing to the front end wire ring, a tubular cover which connects the front end wire ring and the rear end wire ring, and a plurality of intermediate wire rings spaced apart from each other between the front end wire ring and the rear end wire ring, in which each of the wire rings is given flexibly foldable elasticity, wherein each of the front end, rear end, and intermediate wire rings has an arrangement in which it can be folded into a wavy shape having a same phase and forming forwardly directed peaks and bottoms of forwardly directed valleys alternatively and continuously, and wherein the circumference of each intermediate wire ring is fixed to the tubular cover by suturing or with adhesive at respective positions, each respective position corresponding to a midpoint between a forwardly directed peak and a bottom of the adjacent forwardly directed valley, the method comprising steps of: folding said front-end wire ring into a wavy shape forming forwardly directed peaks and bottoms of forwardly directed valleys alternatively and continuously, folding the intermediate wire rings and the rear end wire ring each into a wavy shape having the same phase as that of the front end wire ring; and inserting the whole appliance to be implanted into a catheter.

Claim 9

A method of collapsing an appliance to be implanted, comprising a front end wire ring, a rear end wire ring arranged facing to the front end wire ring, a tubular cover which connects the front end wire ring and the rear end wire ring, and a plurality of intermediate wire rings spaced apart from each other between the front end wire ring and the rear end wire ring, in which each of the wire rings is given flexibly foldable elasticity, wherein each of the front end, rear end, and intermediate wire rings has an arrangement in which it can be folded into a wavy shape having a same phase and forming forwardly directed peaks and bottoms of forwardly directed valleys alternatively and continuously, and wherein the circumference of each intermediate wire ring is fixed to the tubular cover by suturing or with adhesive at respective positions, each respective position corresponding to a midpoint between a forwardly directed peak and a bottom of the adjacent forwardly directed valley, the method comprising steps of: folding said front-end wire ring into a wavy shape forming forwardly directed peaks and bottoms of forwardly directed valleys alternatively and continuously, folding the intermediate wire rings and the rear end wire ring each into a wavy shape having the same phase as that of the front end wire ring; and inserting the whole appliance to be implanted into a catheter.