A micro-catheter delivery system that includes radio-opaque marker bands optimized for the purpose of length reference to assist the operating physician to estimate the length of a tortuous lesion and to anticipate foreshortening of stents with multiple sizes. The radio-opaque maker bands are positioned at the distal end of a stent delivery catheter at a certain intervals acts like a ruler. In another embodiment, a stent delivery system includes a stent delivery wire with one or more radio-opaque markers distanced from the stent distal end for indicating the non-restrained length of the stent when discharged from the delivery catheter.
