Geniculate Artery Embolization for the Treatment of Knee Pain

Geniculate artery embolization (GAE) is a new procedure that is being used to reduce pain and disability (resulting from pain, stiffness and difficulty performing daily activities) caused by knee osteoarthritis (OA). Embolization is a procedure where physicians intentionally block the blood vessels to specific areas of the body to prevent blood flow to that region. By doing this, the decrease in blood flow will decrease the size of the area of interest. In this case, the goal is to decrease the size of inflammatory tissue around the knee, resulting in improvement of pain, stiffness and difficulty performing daily activities from OA.