Tiny plastic grains that are injected into your knee - and can end agony of arthritis in the knee By Erin Dean For The Mail On Sunday Published: 19:25 EDT, 21 September 2024 | Updated: 19:25 EDT, 21 September 2024 e-mail View comments Injecting tiny grains of plastic into the knee joint could offer hope to patients crippled by arthritis pain, NHS research suggests. The ground-breaking technique requires only a local anaesthetic, a few hours in hospital and leaves little, if any, scarring. Some 40 knee arthritis sufferers have undergone the treatment, called genicular arterial embolisation, as part of a trial by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust and University of Reading.
Two-thirds reported swelling significantly lessened and more than half had improvements in pain. Osteoarthritis , as it is known medically, affects 10 million people in the UK, according to charity Versus Arthritis. The disease is caused when the lining of the knee, the synovium, becomes swollen and painful.
The ground-breaking technique requires only a local anaesthetic, a few hours in hospital and leaves little, if any, scarring. (Stock photo) 10 million people in the UK are affected by osteoarthritis, which causes chronic joint pain. (Stock photo) This stops the knee working properly, causing the cartilage that cushions the ends of the bones in a joint to wear away.
The operation targets new 'faulty' blood vessels that grow in the synovium, releasing chemicals that start the cycle of pain and inflam.