Patent ID: 8198365

Claim:
A method for reducing lung volume in a patient, comprising the step of administering to a patient in need thereof a therapeutically effective amount of a hydrogel, wherein said hydrogel is prepared from a first non-natural polymer and a first cross-linker; said first non-natural polymer comprises a plurality of pendant first nucleophilic groups; said first cross-linker comprises at least two pendant first electrophilic groups; and said first non-natural polymer consists essentially of a plurality of subunits independently selected from the group consisting of wherein independently for each occurrence X is —(C(R) 2 ) n —, —(CH 2 OCH 2 ) n CH 2 —, —(CH 2 ) n -(cycloalkyl)-(CH 2 ) n —, or —(CH 2 ) n -(aryl)-(CH 2 ) n —; R is H or lower alkyl; Y is —NHR′, —OH or —SH; R′ is hydrogen, NH 2 , aliphatic, aromatic, heterocyclic, cycloaliphatic or a saturated heterocyclic moiety; n is 1-20; and about 60 mol % to about 99 mol % of the subunits are