Synthesis of Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) and/or Poly(Vinyl Acetate) Particles with Spherical Morphology and Core-Shell Structure and its Use in Vascular Embolization

Poly(vinyl alcohol), PVA, is the most frequently used material in embolization of tumors, aneurisms and arteriovenous malformations due to its low toxicity, good biocompatibility and desirable physical properties. It is well known that PVA particles cannot be prepared by direct polymerization of vinyl alcohol. Its synthesis is typically performed by the suspension polymerization of vinyl acetate to produce poly(vinyl acetate), PVAc, followed by the saponification of the PVAc particles. This work shows that, using the suspension polymerization technique, it is possible to obtain spherical particles with a core-shell structure of PVA/PVAc with regular morphology, instead of particles with irregular shapes and sizes, as usually found in many commercial embolization products. Therefore, this work presents the production of PVA/PVAc spherical particles that can be used to occlude blood vessels, eliminating the disadvantages of commercial PVA. In vivo clinical tests with white “New Zealand” rabbits undergoing kidney inflammation reaction have shown that these spherical particles are much more efficient for vascular embolization.