A balloon catheter is provided that may be used to dilate hardened regions of a stenosis. The balloon catheter is provided with one or more dilation elements (130, 320) that extend along a surface of a balloon (140, 311). Each dilation element (130, 320) is connected to an outer surface (140, 311) of the balloon by a connector (120, 330). The connector (120, 330) is sufficiently sized and designed to undergo stress-induced plastic deformation incurred during blow molding so that a significant portion of each of the dilation elements (130, 320) does not become absorbed into the wall of the final blow molded balloon 150), thereby maintaining the structural integrity of each of the dilation elements (130, 320).
