Radiopaque solidifying liquids for releasable balloon technique: a technical note.

Recently we have reported a catheter having a balloon which can be released simply by twisting the catheter. In the technique, 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA) has been used as a solidifying liquid to prevent the released balloon from deflating. Since HEMA is not radiopaque, the place and the size of the balloon cannot be visualized under an X-ray image intensifier. The present investigation involves the preparation of a radiopaque, solidifying liquid, by mixing HEMA with a suitable contrast medium such as metrizamide, sodium iothalamate or meglumine sodium iodamide. The use of HEMA-contrast medium mixtures made injection of the solidifying liquids much more controllable.