US Patent 7740791 Method of fabricating a stent with features by blow molding

The invention provides a method of manufacturing a stent, the method comprising: disposing a polymeric tube into a cylindrical mold, the cylindrical mold having a variable diameter along a portion of the inside surface of the mold; radially expanding the tube by blowing a gas or liquid into the cylindrical mold, the outside surface of the tube conforming to the variable diameter portion of the outside surface of the mold, causing the radially expanded tube to have a variable diameter along the conformed length of the tube; and fabricating a stent from the expanded tube.