disclosed herewithin is a method of fabricating a stent which involves processing a tubular member whereby no connection points to join the edges of a flat pattern are necessary . the method includes the steps of a ) removing contaminates from a tubular member , b ) coating the outside surface of the tubular member with a photo - sensitive resist material , c ) placing the tubular member in an apparatus designed to simultaneously rotate the tubular member while passing a specially configured photographic frame negative between a uv light source and the tubular member , thereby exposing a specified pattern of uv light to the resist coated tubular member , d ) exposing the outside surface of the tubular member to a photoresist developer for a specified period of time , e ) rinsing the excess developer and uncured resist from the outside surface of the tubular member , f ) treating the tubular member with a electro - chemical process to remove uncovered metal . this process can lend itself to virtually an unlimited number of stent designs and configurations . by modifying the photographic frame negative , the same process can be employed to fabricate various stent designs from a tubular structure .