Braided Support Structure

Abstract

A braided support structure that folds upon release from a delivery device wherein said fold is at least partially effected by varying the pic angle of the braids at locations where the folding is desired.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of creating a braided tubular structure comprising:
 braiding at least one wire to form a tubular structure;   heat setting the tubular structure such that braids resulting from said braiding are deformed to have peaks and valleys that correspond to the intersections of the braids;   changing a pic angle of a section of said tubular structure by moving said peaks from an existing valley on which the peaks were formed during the heat setting to an adjacent valley.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein changing a pic angle of a section of said tubular structure by moving said peaks from an existing valley on which the peaks were formed during the heat setting to an adjacent valley results in the formation of a first section having a first braid angle and at least a second section having a second braid angle. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein said second braid angle is greater than said first braid angle. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2  wherein said second braid angle is greater than 45 degrees and said first braid angle is less than 45 degrees. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising creating a fold line by folding said tubular structure circumferentially. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  further comprising heat setting said fold line. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5  wherein creating a fold line comprises creating a fold line located at a location that corresponds to a pic angle that promotes ease of folding. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein braiding at least one wire to forma tubular structure comprises braiding at least one Nitinol wire to form a tubular structure. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein braiding at least one wire to form a tubular structure comprises braiding a plurality of wires to form a tubular structure. 
     
     
         10 . A method of creating a braided tubular structure comprising:
 braiding at least one wire around a first length of a mandrel at a first pic angle;   braiding said at least one wire around a second length of said mandrel at a second pic angle;   wherein said first length of said mandrel is adjacent to said second length of said mandrel.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein said first length and said second length of said mandrel are separated by a feature usable to change the pic angle. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein said feature comprises pins radiating from said mandrel. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10  wherein said second braid angle is greater than said first braid angle. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10  wherein said second braid angle is greater than 45 degrees and said first braid angle is less than 45 degrees.