United States: A recent study claims that such interruptions prevent pain and may eliminate the need to get a knee replacement operation in cases of knee arthritis.
Effective for Early and Moderate Arthritis
Koval and colleagues write that patients who underwent the procedure, known as genicular artery embolization (GAE), recorded an 87% increase in quality of life and 71% reduction in pain during a one-year follow-up, as reported by HealthDay.
The treatment gave ‘significantly competitive’ benefits to patients early after the therapy, and the decreased knee pain as well as enhancements in the quality of life remained to go on long term, as well as for patients who did not get the benefit from other conservative methods such as physiotherapies or medications, said the principal investigator Dr Florian Nima Fleckenstein, an interventional radiologist at Charité University Medicine Berlin Germany.
What Is Genicular Artery Embolization (GAE)?
The genicular arteries are six leg arteries that converge to a circle about the knee joint, according to background information provided by researchers. These arteries are changed in the patient with knee arthritis.
It was hypothesized that occlusion of blood flow through these arteries at knee pain origin could decrease inflammation, further wear down of the joint cartilage, and the formation of new nerves that relay pain signals.
Innovative Procedure Reduces Pain
In the study, researchers conducted GAE on 433 participants between the ages of 40 and 90 years with moderate to severe knee arthritis, which did not improve with other treatments.
The procedure is about using small particles to introduce into certain vessels in the body so that they can plug the blood vessels, said researchers.
Promising Results with Wide Implications
In this study, it was demonstrated that the procedure is highly effective in the first and second phases of knee arthritis, as reported by HealthDay.
“This could potentially offer a new lease on life for many patients who suffer from debilitating pain and mobility issues caused by osteoarthritis,” Fleckenstein said in a meeting news release. “Through conservative estimates it has been found that GAE has the potential to diminish the necessity of more radical surgeries, decrease the overall health care expenses and enhance the living standards of millions of patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis.