Musculoskeletal Interventions: A Review on Genicular Artery Embolization

Abstract

Symptomatic knee pain is one of the most common joint diseases that affects millions of people worldwide. The treatment for knee pain secondary to osteoarthritis (OA) begins with conservative therapy and progresses to surgical intervention when conservative therapy fails. Genicular artery embolization (GAE) offers an alternative option for patients who are poor surgical candidates. Multiple studies have been conducted worldwide demonstrating the safety and efficacy of GAE in patients with mild to moderate OA. The purpose of this article is to describe the current literature on GAE and highlight the latest findings from a randomized controlled trial comparing GAE versus sham embolization.

Advanced Interventional Procedures for Knee Osteoarthritis: What Is the Current Evidence?

“…Pedal access has also been described. 61 A base catheter is advanced into the superficial femoral artery, and angiography is performed to identify the arterial anatomy of the knee and areas of synovial blush that correlate to the location of pain. Some authors have advocated for cone-beam CT angiography to improve the selection of vessels targeting the synovial blush.…”

Genicular Artery Embolization for Knee Osteoarthritis

“…These patients would no longer respond to nonsurgical treatment, yet they are not candidates for surgery 6 . Initially, genicular artery embolization (GAE) was used to address recurrent and spontaneous hemarthrosis after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) [7][8][9] . After a series of case reports involving transcatheter arterial embolization for adhesive capsulitis and refractory tendinopathy, this novel treatment was developed 10,11 .…”