[A new superselective balloon catheter--all-silicone catheter with a floppy tip]

We have introduced concept of "chemical" embolization and have tried to develop a new agent which would enable us to embolize the lesion with one-shot injection. Such an agent must be able to occlude diffusely the lesion distal to the catheter. This has made it mandatory to develop a new catheter which can be introduced into the vessel as close to the lesion as possible with fewer risks of clot formation and/or vessel damage. A new superselective balloon catheter for angiography and infusion of liquid embolizing materials has been developed. This catheter consists of a proximal relatively stiff silicone catheter, a short distal thin-walled flexible silicone catheter and silicone balloon. These three silicone components are connected by silicone adhesives. The distal catheter allows us to catheterize fine arteries such as lenticulostriates, while the proximal catheter assures easy manipulation. This balloon catheter can be used for superselective angiography and infusion of liquid embolizing materials. It has been used on nine patients; one with a dural arterio-venous malformation (AVM), four with meningiomas, and four with brain and spinal cord AVMs. In the case of dural AVM and meningiomas, it was possible to easily introduce into the middle meningeal artery distal to the foramen spinosum. In addition, in one of the cases of meningioma, we were able to catheterize one of the main feeding pedicles beyond the pterion. Chemical embolization was carried out in 5 cases with good results. In the case of brain and spinal cord AVM, useful information was obtained from the superselective angiography.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)