Two scientific abstracts of a new vascular embolic device, GPX (Fluidx Medical Technology) were presented this week at the 2018 Leipzig Interventional Congress (LINC; Leipzig, Germany). These were titled “A biomimetic, in situ setting embolization agent” and “A novel embolic with minimal catheter adhesion properties”.
“GPX is a biocompatible gel-particle embolic device that transforms from low-viscosity particles in a syringe to a solid particle after injection into a vessel,” said Jihad Mustapha, interventional cardiologist at the Advance Cardiac and Vascular Amputation Prevention Center, Grand Rapids, Michigan, “It is water-based, does not polymerise or precipitate, and is designed to deliver new control and safety for embolization procedures.”
“The data are exciting. Some embolics stick to catheters during delivery and there have been a number of procedures where catheters are accidentally ‘glued’ into the body,” said George Adams, director, Cardiovascular and Peripheral Vascular Research, Rex Hospital and associate professor, Cardiology, UNC School of Medicine. “This GPX data confirmed that a catheter could be left in the body, with embolic material around it, for hours without risk of catheter entrapment. This may bring new precision, flexibility, and safety to embolic delivery.”
Daniel Sze, an interventional radiologist at Stanford, USA, whilst presenting on the topic “Pipeline liquid embolics: glimpse into the future” at the Global Embolization Symposium and Technologies US (GEST US) 2016 meeting described GPX to state that it was based on the chemistry of marine worm tube formation. “This is a proprietary gel-coated particle that increases viscosity at physiologic salinity. All ingredients [found in the embolic] are in other US FDA cleared products,” he said. Sze explained that there were two different viscosity formulations and a toothpaste-like delivery and control. GPX is noncytotoxic, nonhaemolytic, noninflammatory and nonadhesive, he noted at the GEST US conference.
GPX is under development and not US FDA cleared or CE-marked at this time.
