ETH and Empa researchers develop implant against endometriosis

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) has developed a hydrogel implant that can be used to prevent the widespread female disease endometriosis and at the same time protect against unwanted pregnancy. According to a press release, this material, which consists of a water-binding plastic, successfully blocks the fallopian tubes.

Endometriosis is a benign, often painful growth of endometrium-like tissue outside the uterine cavity. Endometriosis is one of the most common gynecological diseases. One of the possible theories for the development of this disease assumes that blood flows retrograde through the fallopian tubes into the abdominal cavity during menstruation. This blood then contains cells of the uterine lining that could colonize the abdominal cavity. With the hydrogel implant, the fallopian tubes can be successfully blocked mechanically so that blood can no longer flow back. Hydrogels only swell on contact with liquid. The implant developed by the researchers would initially be only two millimeters long and only reaches its required size in the fallopian tube.

"We found that the implant must be a very soft, gummy bear-like gel that reacts only minimally with the tissue and is not perceived and rejected as a foreign body," says Alexandre Anthis from the Nanoparticle Systems Engineering Lab at ETH and the Particles-Biology Interactions Lab at Empa and first author of the study in the press release. Like insertion, removal of the new material would also be possible without surgical intervention. However, further clarifications still need to be made before the product is ready for the market. The team is now looking for cooperation partners in industry and academia, and a patent has already been applied for. ce/eb