MEDICAL DEVICE FOR IMPLANTATION INTO LUMINAL STRUCTURES

The present invention relates to expandable scaffolds such as stents. The vascular scaffolds may be formed from bioabsorbable polymers, metals or various combinations of metals and polymers. The stents of the present invention comprise a generally cylindrically shaped main body having a plurality of expandable first and second circumferential elements. The body of the vascular scaffold comprises a plurality of circumferential elements. At least two circumferential elements may be connected to form a pair of circumferential elements. There may be one or more connections between the circumferential elements forming the pair. Each pair of circumferential elements is connected to an adjacent pair of circumferential elements by at least one connection element. When expanded, at least a portion of the connection elements connecting the circumferential elements in the pairs and/or the connection elements connecting the circumferential elements in adjacent pairs form a contiguous spiral pattern which may form a helix(s).