Abstract

The treatment of hemangiomas and vascular malformations in the soft tissue presents several difficult problems. Transarterial embolization and/or percutaneous sclerosing therapy are useful for such lesions, but the effectiveness of these therapies is often partial, and serious problems like ulceration and tissue necrosis may occur. Therefore, we examined the efficacy of intraarterial injection of polidocanol solution as an embolic agent for hemangiomas and vascular malformations using the rabbit kidney. Three embolic agents were compared with polidocanol solution (polidocanol 3%, n = 5; absolute ethanol, n = 5; n-butyl-2 cyanoacrylate: NBCA, n = 5; polyvinyl alcohol: PVA, n = 5). All embolizations were followed by angiography and resection after a week. Results showed that absolute ethanol (n = 5), NBCA (n = 4) and PVA (n = 1) embolized completely. In the specimens, this led to cell necrosis throughout the kidney. In contrast, polidocanol (n = 5) obstructed neither the main trunk of the renal artery nor the peripheral capillary arteries following angiography. In the specimens, the inner medulla of the kidney suffered necrosis. However, residual tissue with massive fibrotic change was seen. These results suggest the efficacy of "embolosclerosing" treatment for capillary vascular lesions and the possibility of alleviating complications from such therapy.