While knee replacement surgeries are common in the U.S., they're a serious undertaking, requiring up to a year to fully recover, according to Cleveland Clinic. The process involves replacing either all or some of the knee joint, most often due to different forms of arthritis. But considering the extensive recovery process—which also comes with its own risks—you may want to delay the process until it's absolutely necessary. Pain can make that a tough call, but thankfully, there's a new procedure that could help actually treat osteoarthritis and delay a knee replacement by extension.
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Details about the "minimally invasive procedure" called genicular artery embolization (GAE) were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago earlier this month.
A recent study evaluated the procedure, with researchers finding that GAE relieved pain and inhibited the progression of knee osteoarthritis. This form of arthritis is typically treated with pain medication and steroid injections, but an accompanying press release notes that those only "mask the symptoms" and become ineffective when the disease progresses.
In patients with osteoarthritis, the genicular arteries—which have branches that "form a network around the knee joint"—are altered. So, with GAE, a radiologist "injects small particles into selected branches that correspond to the site of knee pain to block blood flow to that area." This helps relieve inflammation, the wearing away of cartilage, and sensory nerve growth, the release explains.
The recent study included 167 patients between the ages of 40 and 90 who had moderate to severe knee osteoarthritis. After they didn't respond to other treatment routes, they had a GAE procedure at Charité—University Hospital Berlin in Germany, with no severe complications reported. Patients also reported an 87 percent improvement in quality of life and a 71 percent improvement in pain after one year.
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"Our study found that GAE can effectively reduce knee pain and improve quality of life early after the treatment, with these benefits being maintained over the long term, especially for people who haven't had success with other treatments like physical therapy or pain medications," lead study author Florian Nima Fleckenstein, MD, interventional radiologist at Charité—University Hospital Berlin, said in the release. "This could potentially offer a new lease on life for many patients who suffer from debilitating pain and mobility issues, caused by osteoarthritis."
While all of the procedures were technical successes, 18 percent of patients did have "slight skin discoloration and mild knee pain" after the procedure. The researchers also noted that GAE was more effective for patients in the early stages of knee osteoarthritis.
"This indicates that early intervention could potentially delay or even prevent disease progression, reducing the need for more invasive treatments, such as surgery," the release reads.
In light of the promising results, Fleckenstein added, "GAE has the potential to reduce the need for more invasive surgeries, lower health care costs and significantly improve the quality of life for countless individuals suffering from knee osteoarthritis."