Living Healthy: Minimally invasive procedure reduces knee pain

THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. (KESQ) - This week's Living Healthy segment is about those who have knee pain.

News Channel 3 spoke with Dr. Sonny Bagla, who is recognized across the world as an expert in advanced interventional procedures.

As an alternative to knee replacement or repeated injections, Dr. Bagla says genicular artery embolization, or GAE, reduces pain for 85 percent of patients, especially those in early to moderate stages. He adds that the procedure can be used in other joints as well.

Dr. Bagla explains, "Genicular artery embolization is a procedure in which we inject these little microscopic particles into very small blood vessels in and around the knee joint. The reason we do this is because when a patient has knee pain there’s inflammation in the lining of the knee, and that lining of the knee is actually what causes the pain for patients with arthritis or chronic knee generative disease."

The procedure actually slows blood flow down to the inflamed areas, which then allows the inflammation to decrease and limit pain.

GAE is a minimally invasive procedure and continues to grow in popularity.