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• Posted June 17, 2026

Minimally Invasive Procedure Eases Arthritis Knee Pain, Study Finds

A minimally invasive procedure can ease knee pain by cutting off abnormal blood flow to the joint, a new study says.

The procedure, genicular artery embolization (GAE), reduced knee pain and improved function among nearly 200 people with knee arthritis, researchers reported June 16 in the journal Radiology.

“In our cohort, we saw a significant drop in pain and a significant increase in function, including sports and recreation and daily activity,” said lead researcher Dr. Florian Fleckenstein, in a news release. He is the deputy head of interventional radiology at Charité - University Medicine in Berlin.

“Most importantly, their quality of life significantly increased,” Fleckenstein added.

In GAE, doctors implant gelatin-based microspheres into abnormal blood vessels that are causing increased blood flow to an arthritic knee, researchers said in background notes. These abnormal vessels build up around the joint and drive inflammation and pain.

The microspheres are designed to dissolve within hours, lasting just long enough to alter blood flow to the knee, researchers said. When blood vessel structures return to normal, it also eases pain signals sent by nerves in the knee.

“By reducing both inflammation and pain, GAE with resorbable microspheres may be the first procedure that alters the course of the disease, slowing its progression,” Fleckenstein said.

For the new study, researchers recruited 114 women and 80 men with arthritis-related knee pain who were not helped by physical therapy, anti-inflammatory drugs or knee injections.

The median age of the participants was 69, meaning half were older, half younger. Their median body mass index, an estimate of body fat based on height and weight, was just over 28 — a level that indicates overweight. In all, the patients underwent 239 GAE procedures.

Doctors followed the patients for a year and found that pain scores fell quickly and kept improving throughout follow-up. Pain and function improved in both daily function and in sports and recreation, as well as overall quality of life.

By the end of the year, 4 out of 5 (80%) patients had achieved medically significant improvements in their knee arthritis, results showed.

“This lets us speak about safety and efficacy with real confidence,” Fleckenstein said. “For the right patient, it can mean lasting relief from a single, minimally invasive procedure — a meaningful new option between injections and joint replacement.”

More information

The Cleveland Clinic has more on genicular artery embolization.

SOURCE: Radiological Society of North America, news release, June 16, 2026