Quarterly update

with Social Media Editor Sara Lojo

Dr. Sara Lojo is passionate about interventional radiology and has been involved in the editorial board of many publications since her training. She considers editorialism to be a fundamental tool for training, encouraging its development and bringing it closer to the new generations of IR professionals.

In this Quarterly Update, she will highlight key issues in IR and accompanying CVIR Endovascular articles on the topic.

Dr. Sara Lojo is passionate about interventional radiology and has been involved in the editorial board of many publications since her training. She considers editorialism to be a fundamental tool for training, encouraging its development and bringing it closer to the new generations of IR professionals.

In this Quarterly Update, she will highlight key issues in IR and accompanying CVIR Endovascular articles on the topic.

Quarterly Update #10: Joint embolisation

Published on March 2026

Over the past decade, interventional radiology has expanded beyond the treatment of vascular disease and oncologic conditions to address a wide range of musculoskeletal disorders. Among the most intriguing developments in this field is therapeutic arterial embolization for chronic joint pain, particularly in the knee and shoulder. These techniques represent a growing intersection between interventional radiology, pain medicine, and orthopedics, offering minimally invasive alternatives for patients who have failed conservative therapy yet may not be candidates for surgery.

These procedures illustrate a broader shift within interventional radiology toward image-guided therapies for chronic inflammatory and degenerative musculoskeletal conditions. Advances in angiographic imaging, cone-beam CT, and embolic materials have enabled increasingly precise targeting of small periarticular vessels while minimizing the risk of non-target embolization. As the field evolves, ongoing clinical trials and multidisciplinary collaboration will be essential to better define patient selection, optimal embolic agents, and long-term outcomes.

In this quarterly update, we highlight recent contributions exploring the expanding role of arterial embolization in joint disease. Together, these studies reflect the creativity and adaptability of interventional radiology as it continues to redefine minimally invasive solutions for complex clinical problems—extending its impact beyond traditional domains into the management of chronic pain and musculoskeletal disease.

Articles

Combined genicular artery embolization and genicular nerve block to treat chronic pain following total knee arthroplasty

Wenhui Zhou, Eric Bultman, Lisa A. Mandl, Nicholas J. Giori & Sirish A. Kishore

Genicular artery embolization in a patient with popliteal artery agenesis: a case report

Paula Krüselmann, Nicolas Steinfort, Arian Taheri Amin & Peter Minko

Periarticular cooling reduces non-target perfusion in genicular artery embolization: a quantitative angiographic study

Alice M. Jacob, Alexander M. C. Böhner, Narine Mesropyan, Anna-Maria Odenthal, Alexander Isaak, Patrick Kupczyk, Daniel Kuetting, Julian Luetkens, Carsten Meyer & Tatjana Dell

Sheathless microcatheter: a new approach for musculoskeletal arterial embolization

Raad Madkhali, Mohammed Almoaiqel, Refaat Salman, Mohammad Arabi, Shaker Alshehri, Turki Alenazi, Elan Humoud, Abdulmohsen Alhussaini & Mohamed Rajab Elzahrani

Endovascular management of recurrent hemarthrosis of the knee: a case series

Richard Pow, Brett Fritsch, Richard Waugh & Chris Rogan

Short-term follow-up of embolization of hip synovitis

Mateus Picada Correa, Renan Camargo Puton, Jaber Nashat Saleh, Rafael Stevan Noel, Luis Henrique Penteado da Silva, Daniela Medeiros de Castro & Julio Cesar de Mello Bajesrki