Genicular Artery Embolisation for the symptomatic treatment of knee osteoarthritis refractory to conservative management (GEKO)

Research summary

Knee osteoarthritis is a painful condition. In the early stages, patients often benefit from lifestyle changes and exercises. When the knee becomes very damaged, they may require a knee replacement surgery to alleviate the pain and improve symptoms. In between the early and advanced stages, pain can become a major problem. A new treatment has been developed which aims to relieve pain in the knee by blocking (embolisation) small extra blood vessels around the knee. Early studies seem to show some benefit, but a larger study is needed to see if the treatment is effective at reducing pain. If it works, it could help a lot of people with knee osteoarthritis who are in a “treatment gap” between simple care and complex surgery. The research will be a special type of clinical study called a randomised controlled clinical trial. In this study, once the participant has been confirmed to have the extra blood vessels, will be randomly assigned to either receive the active treatment (GAE) or a placebo procedure.The active treatment (GAE) involves a procedure where tiny beads are used to block small blood vessels around the knee. The placebo procedure is where a similar procedure is done, but instead of the beads, a simple saline solution (salt water) is injected. Participants will not be aware what treatment they are undergoing. Two hundred and sixteen people with moderate/severe knee osteoarthritis who have presented to secondary (hospital) care and previously tried existing treatments will take part. Questionnaires assessing pain and function over a 12-month period will be used to show if any difference exists between the treatments. At the same time, we will investigate what is going on in the knee after the procedure by using imaging techniques.

Principal Investigator

Dr Abtin Alvand

Contact us

Email: Avianna.laws@ouh.nhs.uk

IRAS number

324901