Clinical Perspective of Trans-Arterial Embolization for Management of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain and Improving Physical Function

Clinical Perspective of Trans-Arterial Embolization for Management of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain and Improving Physical Function

Trans-arterial embolization (TAE) is a minimally invasive treatment, recently been deployed to treat various chronic painful inflammatory musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. Through selective embolization, TAE inhibits the abnormal hypervascularity that contributes to the catabolic and inflammatory. There have been several studies suggesting that TAE has an excellent safety and efficacy profile and demonstrates promising clinical results, including decreased pain and improved function and quality of life after treatment. The authors review and introduce underlying theory, embolic agent selection, and clinical evidence for TAE in the treatment of chronic MSK pain refractory to standard therapy.