.jpg)
SIR 2025
Pain Management/MSK
Scientific Session
David-Dimitris Chlorogiannis, MD
Research Scholar
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, United States
Anastasia Vasilopoulou, MD
Orthopedic Surgery Department
Korgialeneio Mpenakeio Hellenic Red Cross Hospital, Greece
Christos Konstantinidis, MD
Trust Foundation Doctor
Academic Department of Trauma and Orthopedics, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Yan Epelboym, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor
Brigham & Women's Hospital, United States
Dimitrios Filippiadis, MD, PhD (he/him/his)
Associate Professor of Interventional Radiology
Attikon Hospital, Greece
Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent progressive musculoskeletal disease and a major cause of disability worldwide. In cases refractory to conservative therapies transcatheter genicular artery embolization (GAE) has been proposed. Emerging research shows promising results in reducing knee pain and improving mobility using variable pain assessment scales. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the aggregated data concerning the safety and efficacy of GAE for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis regarding pain reduction.
Materials and Methods:
A systematic search was conducted in three major databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CENTRAL) following the PRISMA Guidelines, for studies reporting pain improvement outcomes in knee OA patients treated with GAE. Studies reporting pain reduction according to the VAS, WOMAC-total, WOMAC-pain and KOOS-pain scale and adverse event rate were included. Meta- analysis was performed by estimating the mean difference and by fitting random-effect models using R-studio.
Results:
Overall, 21 studies were included, comprising of 633 patients and 758 knees treated. The combined data analysis showed that patients who underwent GAE demonstrated mean declines in VAS-Score of: − 38.5 points (95%CI: −44.9, − 32.0) at 1 month, − 36.2 points (95%CI− 43.0, − 29.5) at 3 months, − 40.3 points (95%CI: − 49.0, − 31.7) at 6 months, and − 40.5 points (95%CI: − 54.5, − 26.6) at 12 months (all p-value < 0.05). Similarly, significant differences at all time points were also found for WOMAC-total, WOMAC-pain and KOOS pain scales (all p-value < 0.05). During subgroup analysis no difference between permanent and non-permanent embolic material was found for all time endpoints and across all pain assessment scales (all p-value < 0.05).
Conclusion:
GAE is a safe and effective treatment for osteoarthritis related knee pain. This result was not affected by the type of embolic material used (permanent vs non-permanent).