Patent ID: 7648713

Claim:
A medical implant to seal a lumen or void in a body of a patient comprising: a sterilized pharmaceutically acceptable covalently crosslinked hydrogel polymerized from at least one synthetic hydrophilic polyethylene glycol macromer, the hydrogel having a substantially less than equilibrium level of hydration for undergoing a volumetric expansion of at least about 50% after swelling with physiological fluid and having a size and a swellability to press against tissue surrounding the lumen or void upon swelling to seal and thereby occlude the lumen or void upon swelling from exposure to a fluid from the body, wherein the hydrogel, at the substantially less than equilibrium level of hydration, has a shape selected from the group consisting of a rod and a sheet rolled from one edge to another to form a roll, with the rod or roll outer diameter being no more than 1.5 mm.