Method for deploying a thermo-mechanically expandable stent

A biodegradable expandable stent (10) made of a polymeric material for use in a body and able to remain within it, including the stent (10) lumen: a hollow tube (12) coated with a radiation-absorbing coating (18, 20 ) including a chromophore capable of increasing its temperature upon exposure to radiation, wherein the hollow tube (12), in an unexpanded form, is of a first diameter sufficient to be retained upon a balloon catheter for placement within the body lumen, not being the tube (12) plastically expandable at normal body temperatures, and being expandable due to heating by the radiation-absorbing coating (18, 20) using thermo-mechanical means at a temperature between about 38 ° to 60 ° C when the balloon catheter is inflated to a second diameter sufficient to be retained within the body lumen.