Genicular artery embolization for treatment of knee osteoarthritis pain: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Genicular artery embolization (GAE) is a novel, minimally invasive procedure for treatment of knee osteoarthritis (OA). This meta-analysis investigated the safety and effectiveness of this procedure. Outcomes of this systematic review with meta-analysis were technical success, knee pain visual analog scale (VAS; 0–100 scale), WOMAC Total Score (0–100 scale), retreatment rate, and adverse events. Continuous outcomes were calculated as the weighted mean difference (WMD) versus baseline. Minimal clinically important difference (MCID) and substantial clinical benefit (SCB) rates were estimated in Monte Carlo simulations. Rates of total knee replacement and repeat GAE were calculated using life-table methods. In 10 groups (9 studies; 270 patients; 339 knees), GAE technical success was 99.7%. Over 12 months, the WMD ranged from −34 to −39 at each follow-up for VAS score and −28 to −34 for WOMAC Total score (all p ​