Recent Progress in Advanced Hydrogel‐Based Embolic Agents: From Rational Design Strategies to Improved Endovascular Embolization

Abstract

Transcatheter arterial embolization, a minimally invasive treatment to deliberately occlude the blood vessels, has become a safe and effective procedure for the management of vascular diseases and benign/malignant tumors. Particularly, hydrogel‐based embolic agents have garnered much attention because of their potential to address some of the limitations of clinically used embolic agents and can be rationally designed to impart more favorable characteristics or functions. In this review, the recent progress toward the development of polymer‐based hydrogels for effective endovascular embolization, including the in situ gelling hydrogels mediated by physically or chemically crosslinking, imageable hydrogels for intraprocedural and postprocedural feedback, use of hydrogels as the drug depot for local delivery of therapeutic drugs, hemostatic hydrogels inducing extrinsic or intrinsic coagulation of blood, stimuli‐responsive shape memory hydrogels as the smart embolization devices, and hydrogels incorporating external‐stimuli functional materials for multidisciplinary therapy, is systemically summarized. Moreover, the potential considerations of hydrogel‐based embolic agents confronted in therapeutic embolization are pointed out. Finally, the perspectives for the development of more effective embolic hydrogels are also highlighted.

Review of Spider Silk Applications in Biomedical and Tissue Engineering

“…Hydrogels with a combination of silk fibroin with other bioactive compounds like alginate have shown promising properties for wound healing [ 118 ]. Hydrogel-based embolic agents for transcatheter arterial embolization showed very good results in endovascular embolization [ 119 ]. The sincorporation of smart properties has provoked research interest in making hydrogels that can sense external stimulus, and hence can be used in medical diagnostics [ 120 ] or drug delivery systems [ 121 ].…”

“…Hydrogels with a combination of silk fibroin with other bioactive compounds like alginate have shown promising properties for wound healing [118]. Hydrogel-based embolic agents for transcatheter arterial embolization showed very good results in endovascular embolization [119]. The sincorporation of smart properties has provoked Hydrogel scaffolds can be customized to enable the tailoring and control of cell migration, proliferation, and differentiation by controlling the transport of nutrients and oxygen and by mimicking the surrounding natural tissue [115].…”

Morphologically transformable peptide nanocarriers coloaded with doxorubicin and curcumin inhibit the growth and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma

“…In the progression of HCC, the tumor vasculature provides sufficient nutrients and oxygen for tumor cell growth [ 21 ]. Therefore, researchers have developed various clinical approaches for treating tumors by targeting tumor blood vessels, including embolization strategies [ 22 , 23 ], vascular disruptors [ 24 ], and VEGF antibodies [ 25 ], with the aim of obstructing or suppressing the tumor vasculature. These clinical strategies confirm that the tumor vasculature is a tempting target for tumor therapy.…”

Microfluidic fabrication of X-ray-visible sodium hyaluronate microspheres for embolization

“…The principle for TAE is to block the vessels supplying blood in the target tumor by implementing embolic agents, leading to ischemia and subsequent necrosis of tumor cells. [4][5][6] For example, uterine artery embolization (UAE) can be applied to treat uterine broids, pushing an embolic agent through the uterine artery with a microcatheter to block the blood supply of broids, making them shrink and then eventually disappear. 7 Compared with traditional hysterectomy and myomectomy, UAE treatment is advantageous due to its relatively high safety and efficacy, being less invasive, and having fewer complications, and preservation of the uterus.…”