In patients with painful knee osteoarthritis, is genicular artery embolisation effective at reducing pain in comparison to a placebo intervention?
Osteoarthritis of the knee is a painful condition that can affect daily life. In the early stages, patients often find relief from lifestyle changes and exercises. When the knee becomes very damaged, surgery may be necessary to relieve pain and improve function. In between these stages, pain can still be a big problem, and treatments like pain medications and physiotherapy may become less effective.
A new treatment has been developed which aims to relieve pain in the knee by blocking (embolising) small extra blood vessels around the knee. This is thought to also reduce the number of extra nerves causing pain because the extra nerves will not have a blood supply. Early studies show some promising results, but a larger study is needed to confirm if this treatment can effectively reduce pain in people with knee osteoarthritis. The GEKO Study hopes to find out if the treatment can help those where simple treatments no longer work, but surgery isn’t yet necessary. If successful, it could provide relief for many people suffering from knee osteoarthritis.
