No new knee, less pain: tiny dissolving particles halve arthritis pain for a year

At Charité hospital in Berlin, doctors treated 194 people whose knee arthritis no longer responded to therapy, medicines or injections — but who could not, or did not want, a replacement joint. Through a thin tube threaded into an artery, they placed tiny gelatin particles that dissolve within hours into the knee's abnormal, inflammation-feeding blood vessels. A year later, median pain had fallen from 7 to 3 out of 10, quality-of-life scores had more than doubled, and there were no moderate or severe side effects. The study had no comparison group, so larger controlled trials are still needed — but for people stuck between injections and major surgery, it is a hopeful new middle path.