Experimental renal and hepatic artery embolization with a new embolic agent, atelocollagen, in a porcine model.

Purpose: We aimed to investigate the potentiality of atelocollagen, a new embolic agent which is collagen type I in a porcine experimental model.
Materials and Methods: Three pigs underwent transcatheter embolization of lower interlobular arteries of the renal artery (n=6) and one branch of the hepatic artery (n=3) with collagen type I. Angiography was performed prearterial, during, and postarterial embolization. After the procedure, samples from the embolized organs were evaluated by histological analysis.
Results: Six lower interlobular renal arteries and three hepatic arteries were successfully embolized by administration of 0.8±0.3 mL and 2.9±1.2 mL, respectively, of the collagen type I. Histological findings of the embolized kidney specimens showed that the collagenous materials filled the arterial lumen, whose size ranged from 2.02 to 839.82 μm and reached the level of afferent arteries of glomerular tufts. Although the area of occluded arteries of the liver was smaller than the kidney, histological findings of the liver specimens showed that the collagenous materials filled small arterial lumens from 2.81 to 187.86 μm in diameter.
Conclusion: Atelocollagen, a collagen type I, has the potential to be used to embolize the distal vessels of both renal and hepatic arteries.