Foreign-body material identified at site of fatal brain hemorrhage

In the second patient (Case 1 in this paper), embolic non-biological material had been found close to the site of hemorrhage, but the nature of the material and its relationship to the hemorrhage was unclear. When a third patient at a distant institution (Case 2) developed a similar delayed hemorrhage, the treating physicians were advised to check carefully for the presence of embolic foreign material. When the material was confirmed to be present in the third patient (Case 2), preserved tissue from the first patient (Case 3) was re-examined and the embolic material, albeit in lesser amounts, was identified adjacent to the hemorrhagic area. The source of this material became the next question to answer.

Autopsy specimens in all three patients contained collections of non-biological material at the site of brain hemorrhage. Tests showed this material to be polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), a water-soluble polymer with various applications such as an adhesive in glue sticks, a binder in pharmaceutical tablets, and a lubricant coating in catheters. Deposits of PVP were found in the hemorrhagic areas, clogging blood vessels and extending into surrounding brain tissue. The only other place in the brain that PVP was found was on the surface of the PED in two of the patients. Since the PED does not contain PVP, the researchers focused on other materials used in the endovascular procedure. They suspect that the PVP sloughed off the Cook Shuttle Guiding Sheath that was used to deliver the PED, and they provide videos showing how this may have occurred. The PVP may then have traveled through the vasculature from the site of aneurysm treatment to the location where hemorrhage later occurred.

The researchers discuss the role PVP could have played in the fatal hemorrhages. However, they note that there is no clear-cut evidence that the presence of PVP was the direct or sole cause of fatal brain hemorrhage in these patients. PVP is a component in numerous supplies used in endovascular procedures, and its presence has not been directly linked with catastrophic events. In addition, there are other factors that could cause brain hemorrhage in patients undergoing aneurysm treatment.

The researchers describe and discuss additional potential causes of hemorrhage as well as the possibility that a combination of two or more factors, including PVP, could lead to this serious event. All are detailed in their paper, "Histopathological assessment of fatal ipsilateral intraparenchymal hemorrhages after the treatment of supraclinoid aneurysms with the Pipeline Embolization Device. Report of 3 cases"