Osteoarthritis wears away the cartilage that protects the ends of the bones. What actually hurts, though, is often not the cartilage itself but the synovium — the lining of the joint — which becomes inflamed and grows an abnormally rich blood supply. That inflamed lining releases chemical signals that damage cartilage further, which drives more inflammation. It is a cycle that feeds itself.
Genicular artery embolization interrupts that cycle at its blood supply. Working through a catheter no wider than a strand of spaghetti, we reduce blood flow to the inflamed lining while leaving the healthy circulation of the knee intact. Less blood to the inflamed tissue means less inflammation, and less inflammation means less pain.
GAE does not rebuild cartilage and it is not a substitute for knee replacement in a joint that has structurally failed. What it does is treat pain in people whose arthritis is real, whose injections have stopped working, and who are not ready for — or not candidates for — a total knee. Published series have reported meaningful and durable reductions in knee pain after GAE, and the procedure leaves every surgical option still open.
What the procedure involves
Arrival and sedation
You arrive at our own outpatient suite, not a hospital. We use twilight sedation, so you are comfortable and drowsy but breathing on your own. There is no general anesthesia and no breathing tube.
Access
A small needle enters an artery at the top of the thigh or at the wrist. Nothing is cut. A thin catheter passes through that access point into the arteries that feed the knee.
Mapping and embolization
Under live X-ray, we map the genicular arteries and identify the branches feeding the inflamed lining. Microscopic particles are released into those branches only, reducing their flow.
Home the same day
The catheter comes out and pressure is held over the access site. Nothing stays inside you. Most patients are home within a few hours and walking normally that evening.