FURI | Spring 2020

Thermo-Responsive pNIPAAm-Based Polymers for Endovascular Brain Aneurysm Repair

Each year, approximately 30,000 people in the United States experience a ruptured brain aneurysm. A current treatment is endovascular therapy, which use coils and/or stents to divert blood flow. poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAAm) is a thermo-responsive polymer that remains a liquid during injection into the human body and solidifies in situ. The goal of this research is to study pNIPAAm-based polymers as liquid embolic agents for the occlusion of aneurysms. It is predicted that there will be a lower risk of migration and aneurysm recanalization as opposed to platinum coils or stents.