Preliminary experience with Precipitating Hydrophobic Injectable Liquid (PHIL) in treating cerebral AVMs

Objective To describe our early experience in treating cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) with the new Precipitating Hydrophobic Injectable Liquid (PHIL) embolic material. Materials and methods Between June and August 2015 five patients with cerebral AVMs were treated at two tertiary university hospitals. PHIL was used as complementary treatment to Onyx liquid embolic material or as the sole endovascular treatment. Results Five patients (average age 39 years (range 19-73)) with ruptured plexiform AVMs were treated. The group included one patient with Spetzler-Martin grade II AVMs, three grade III, and one grade IV. One grade II and two grade III AVMs were cured. A total of nine pedicles were embolized with an average of two pedicles per session. There were no procedural complications. One patient had a seizure after embolization but a brain CT scan showed no hemorrhage. Conclusions PHIL is a new embolic agent that can be used for the treatment of cerebral AVMs.