US Patent 8062345 Delivery systems for delivering and deploying stent grafts

A delivery system for delivering and deploying a stent graft includes a guidewire catheter, an apex release catheter, an apex capture device, a relatively rigid, hollow catheter, a sheath catheter, a relatively flexible, hollow stent graft sheath and a distal nose. The apex capture device includes a distal capture portion fixedly connected to the distal end of the guidewire catheter and having a distal portion and a proximal stopper having an exposed side facing distally in a plane approximately perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the guidewire catheter. The apex capture device also includes a proximal capture portion fixedly connected to the distal end of the apex release catheter and has fingers extending toward the distal capture portion in a distal direction that define an interior cavity to receive the proximal stopper. The proximal and distal capture portions of the apex capture device define a stent capture state. In an embodiment, the delivery system further includes a hollow graft push catheter slidably disposed about the apex release catheter and a connected to the distal end of the graft push catheter.