Injectable and Radiopaque Liquid Metal/Calcium Alginate Hydrogels for Endovascular Embolization and Tumor Embolotherapy

In this work, an injectable and radiopaque liquid metal/calcium alginate hydrogel is fabricated for endovascular embolization and tumor embolotherapy. Such hydrogel has flexibility and radiopacity due to adoption of liquid metal droplets. It also owns excellent biocompatibility and hemocompatibility to facilitate future clinical applications. Rather promising therapeutic effects are achieved by conceptual experiments on this hydrogel for tumor embolotherapy. AbstractImproved endovascular embolization can contribute to assistant treatment for patients. However, many traditional embolic materials, such as metal microcoils or liquid embolic agents, are associated with limitations of coil migration or recanalization. Herein, as the first trial, an injectable and radiopaque liquid metal/calcium alginate (LM/CA) hydrogel is introduced and fabricated as a candidate for endovascular embolization and tumor embolotherapy through developing LM droplets as radiopaque units into biocompatible calcium alginate cross ‐linked network. The adoption of LM droplets makes hydrogels radiopaque under X‐ray and CT scan, which significantly facilitates the tracking of material location during surgical vascular operation. In addition, in vitro and in vivo experiments prove that such smart hydrogel could convert from l iquid to solid rapidly via cross‐linking, showing pretty flexible and controllable functions. Benefiting from these properties, the hydrogel can be performed in blood vessels thro...
Source: Small - Category: Nanotechnology Authors: Tags: Full Paper Source Type: research