All of us at CrannMed were extremely proud to treat our first patients last week. We treated three patients suffering from long-term chronic knee pain. All reported a significant reduction in pain after the procedure and were discharged within 24 hours. It was particularly satisfying to see what this pain reduction meant to people, and the immediate impact it had on their wellbeing.

Thanks to Dr Sherzod Iskhakov, who performed the embolization, and Prof Mark Little, who proctored the cases.

“It is very encouraging to see the continued development of resorbable embolic technology, which will be essential for the future growth of MSK embolotherapy.  I look forward to seeing the long term results.”

Prof Mark Little

We embolized three vessels in each patient. In all cases the non native neo-vessels were confirmed by the presence of a vascular ‘blush’ in the genicular vessels supplying the knee. The blush was identified under fluoroscopy before being embolized with SakuraBead (0.2ml to 0.6ml per vessel). The procedural end point was the absence of vascular blush in all the genicular vessels. The elimination of this vascular blush is evident in the pre- and post-embolization images below.

“Sakurabead was easy to use and well tolerated by the patients. We look forward to treating more patients over the coming months.”

Dr Sherzod Iskhakov

The average pre-procedure pain score for the three patients treated was 7.5/10, indicating severe disease. All were taking daily pain medication and had unsuccessfully tried a range of conservative therapies. A six-month follow-up is planned to confirm the durability of the treatment.

Thanks to all involved in this groundbreaking procedure – hopefully the first of many.