| abstract |
Apparatus for vascular embolization, deployable through a microcatheter, includes a flexible, elongate deployment tube dimensioned for insertion through the microcatheter, and a filamentous embolic device releasably attached to the distal end of the tube. The embolic device is controllably transformable from a soft, compliant state to a rigid or semi-rigid state. The embolic device may include a polymeric material that is transformable by contact with vascular blood or with a liquid that is cooler than vascular blood, or it may include a metallic material that is transformable by electrolytic corrosion. The embolic device may be a continuous filamentous polymeric extrusion; an elongate microcoil filled with polymeric material; an elongate, multi-segmented chain including polymeric interconnecting portions; or an elongate chain of metal segments that are fused together by electrolytic corrosion. An aneurysm is embolized with this apparatus by deploying a microcatheter so that its distal end is adjacent the aneurysm; deploying the embolic device through the microcatheter and into the aneurysm so that the embolic device forms a web-like mass in the aneurysm; and transforming the embolic device from its soft, compliant state to its rigid or semi-rigid state. The embolic device is advantageously deployed by releasably attaching it to a flexible, elongate deployment tube that is passed through the microcatheter, and then detaching the embolic device from the tube when the embolic device is suitably situated. |