Biomaterials

Biography

Biography: Andrew Lewis

Abstract

The practice of embolisation of blood vessels (deliberate occlusion of the lumen of the vessel to stem blood flow) has been practised by Interventional Radiologists for many decades. Guidewires and catheters are manouevered under X-ray image-guidance to target sites in the body where particles are then administered into the vessels create a bloackade. A wide variety of particulate embolic agents have been used over the years, many of which are commercially available and consist of different materials, shapes, size ranges and formats, all of which impact upon their clinical performance. The embolic can be temporary (biodegradable) or permanent in nature and can be made from natural or synthetic materials. Some of these embolic agents can contain and elute chemotherapeutic drugs or are inherenly radioactive in order to provide a locoregional treatment option for tunours due to the site-specific delivery of the particles. More recent advancements include particles that are visible under the standard X-ray techniques used to guide the interventions, enabling intra-procedural and post-procedural feedback with real-time visualisation of embolic particle localisation to help the physician optimise the treatment technique for improved clinical outcomes. In this presentation, an overview of different particulate agents will be provided together with a discussion on how the physicochemical properties of the biomaterials from which they are composed, influences their behaviour during handling and administration, flow and occlusion properties, tissue interactions and therapeutic delivery capability.