Genicular artery embolization (GAE) with EmboCept S 50μm (Sirtex) resorbable microspheres provides “statistically significant improvements” to pain scores in patients with mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis, and preliminary one-year results did not show inferiority compared to other resorbable or permanent embolics.
Aleksejs Zolovkins (University Hospital Sant Andrea, Rome, Italy) shared his team’s one-year experience with this technique highlighting baseline Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) grade as the “most important indicator” of treatment success. These results were presented at the European Conference on Embolotherapy (ET; 11–14 June, Porto, Portugal).
Zolovkins and colleagues treated 28 patients and 31 knees: 71% classified as K-L grade 1–3 (group one) and 29% as K-L grade 4 (group 2). Among patients treated, 15 were female and 13 were male, with a median age of 65.5±19.4 years.
Regarding clinical success, defined as ≥50% symptom reduction, the speaker reported a 90.3% success rate in 28 of 31 knees at 48 hours, 88% in 22 of 25 knees at six months, and 66.6% in 12 of 16 knees at 12 months.
Across both groups, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) pain score showed “peak efficacy” with a 65.3% reduction at one month following GAE, which translated to 53.4% at six months and 54.6% at 12 months, a “relatively stable” trend, Zolovkins pointed out.
Using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC), Zolovkins reported a “rapid decrease” in scores at 48 hours for patients in group one, with a “sustained improvement” in WOMAC scores up to 12 months post-procedure.
“WOMAC scores [in group two] improved initially but gradually returned to baseline values in the longer term,” he said.
Zolovkins stated that “the Kellgren-Lawrence grade is the most important predictor of treatment success”. He added that, the higher the WOMAC score at baseline, “the greater the improvement in symptoms” following treatment, which suggests that patients who are highly symptomatic may derive more benefit. Further, he and his team did not observe any correlation between outcomes and age or gender.
