Stents are used to treat stenoses. Stenoses are closures and constrictions of tubular body canals acquired congenitally or conditioned by disease. Tumors that press on the body canals or deposits that close the body canals are frequently causes for stenoses. Stenoses can be opened by operative and non-operative measures. In the case of non-operative measures, stents are introduced by catheter techniques or introducing aids into the intracorporal vessel in the area of the stenosis. Stents function as prosthesis for supporting the inner walls of a lumen.
In various areas of application, e.g., bronchus, bilary, trachea or esophagus the stents must be able to removed out of the body as a function of the course of the disease or treatment. This can be problematic since newly formed tissue can grow on the support frame and even grow through it, which can result in complications when removing a stent.
In this connection a stent taught by DE 101 18 944 A1 belongs to the state of the art whose support frame is surrounded on the outside by a thread or wire. The support frame can be radially constricted by pulling on the thread ends, that are each provided with a loop or the like, which makes it possible for the frame to be removed. In particular when the wire or thread is guided or braided in multiple windings around the support frame, a high degree of friction results between the two stent components, which has a disadvantageous effect on the explantation process. Even the grasping of the thread ends can be complex at times.