In 194 people with knee osteoarthritis, median age 69, dissolving-particle embolization cut median pain from 7 to 3 at one year

What the research found

Study (single-center series, no sham arm). Florian Nima Fleckenstein and colleagues at Charité in Berlin report in Radiology (DOI 10.1148/radiol.253312) on 194 people, 114 women and 80 men, median age 69, median body mass index 28.4. All still had pain after at least three months of therapy, pills, and joint injections. Genicular artery embolization with gelatin microspheres that dissolve within hours was technically successful in 239 procedures. Median pain on a 0-to-10 scale fell from 7 to 4 at six weeks and to 3 at six and 12 months. Of those assessed at one year, 80 percent cleared a 2-point pain threshold. Mild temporary complications occurred in 6.7 percent of procedures. No moderate or severe events were recorded. A separate 2026 sham-controlled trial of 58 people found no significant pain gap between embolization and a sham procedure, and a pooled look at three randomized trials found no significant advantage over sham. This series cannot show how much of the change was the procedure itself. Not medical advice.

Evidence level: Clinical trial. This is among the stronger kinds of evidence, but one study rarely settles a question.

Read the original at Charité Berlin / Radiology