A non-surgical procedure that temporarily blocks extra blood vessels in the knee is offering lasting pain relief for people with knee osteoarthritis.

In a clinical study of 194 patients, 80% of them reported significant reductions in knee pain that lasted for at least a full year after receiving the treatment.

The findings highlight a potential alternative for millions of adults with chronic joint pain who have outgrown pain medications or steroid injections — but who want to avoid total knee replacement.

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Osteoarthritis wears down joint cartilage and causes the body to grow unnecessary new blood vessels around the knee, according to Mayo Clinic. 

These extra vessels increase inflammation and irritate surrounding nerves, making daily movement painful.

The procedure, known as genicular artery embolization (GAE), addresses this directly. 

By temporarily clogging excess blood vessels, doctors can reduce inflammation and quiet pain-sensing nerves without major surgery or permanent implants.

Because the treatment uses microscopic gelatin particles that dissolve over time, it leaves no foreign material behind. If widely adopted, GAE could provide a repeatable, low-risk way for patients to stay active and preserve joint function longer, researchers say.

"For many patients with knee osteoarthritis, there is a real treatment gap today," said Florian Nima Fleckenstein, M.D., deputy head of Interventional Radiology Campus Mitte, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, in a press release.

"Our study demonstrates that GAE using rapidly resorbable gelatin-based microspheres is a safe, minimally invasive therapy that provides meaningful pain relief and functional improvement in participants with osteoarthritis-related knee symptoms for at least 12 months."

ALZHEIMER’S RISK LINKED TO COMPOUND FOUND IN POPULAR JOINT HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS

During GAE, doctors use real-time X-ray guidance to steer a thin, flexible tube into the blood vessels surrounding the knee joint. 

Then they release tiny, dissolvable gelatin particles into specific vessels to slow excess blood flow to the inflamed areas.

Across 239 total procedures performed on 194 study participants, none experienced severe complications. 

Only 6.7% reported mild side effects, such as brief skin discoloration or minor bruising, issues that resolved on their own.

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"In our cohort, we saw a significant drop in pain and a significant increase in function, including sports and recreation and daily activity," Fleckenstein said.

"Most importantly, their quality of life significantly increased."

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In addition to feeling less pain, participants experienced gains in daily mobility. Patients reported easier walking, climbing stairs and bending, while overall quality-of-life scores more than doubled over the 12-month follow-up period.

Limitations of study

While the results are promising, researchers note several important limitations.

First, the study did not include a control group receiving a mock or placebo procedure. 

Without a comparison group, it is difficult to isolate the physical benefits of the dissolvable particles from potential placebo effects, the researchers said. 

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Second, the study tracked patients for only one year. 

Further research is needed to determine how long the pain relief typically lasts and how often repeat treatments might be required.

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Finally, while GAE effectively reduces inflammation and pain, the researchers said it is not a cure.

The procedure does not rebuild lost cartilage or reverse structural joint damage. Larger, randomized trials are currently underway to confirm these early findings.

Fox News Digital reached out to the study authors for further comment. 

Frequent daytime napping among older adults has been linked to a higher risk of developing dementia, according to a study published in The Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health tracked nearly 1,000 adults age 65 and older who showed no signs of memory or thinking problems when the study began in 2013.

A decade later, the researchers found that daily rest habits — like how often people nap, how long they sleep and whether they fall asleep by accident — are linked to long-term brain health.

ONE TYPE OF SLEEP LINKED TO DRAMATICALLY LOWER RISK OF DEMENTIA, PARKINSON'S AND 81 OTHER DISEASES

The study found that participants who napped frequently, defined as most days or every day, had a 48% higher risk of developing dementia compared to those who rarely or never napped.

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Whether the naps were intentional also appeared to play a role. Seniors who fell asleep unintentionally had a 39% higher risk, while shorter naps were also linked to poorer outcomes.

Napping for 30 minutes or less was linked to a 40% increased risk of dementia, even after researchers adjusted for other health factors. For naps longer than 30 minutes, the association was less pronounced after researchers accounted for nighttime sleep patterns.

The research team stressed that looking at daytime napping habits gives a much clearer picture of overall health than looking at nighttime sleep alone.

THIS ONE QUESTION MAY REVEAL WHETHER YOUR BODY IS GETTING THE REST IT NEEDS, STUDY FINDS

"Our study highlights the importance of looking beyond just how long people nap and considering other napping characteristics, such as how frequently they nap and whether their naps are intentional," study authors Adam Spira, Ph.D., a professor at the Bloomberg School, and postdoctoral fellow Kening Jiang, Ph.D., told Fox News Digital.

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"This study provides important longitudinal evidence that frequent and unintentional daytime napping were associated with a higher risk of developing dementia among older adults."

The findings held true even after accounting for nighttime sleep length, daytime drowsiness and indicators of sleep apnea.

"Nighttime sleep and daytime napping are closely related," Spira and Jiang went on. "Daytime napping may compensate for poor nighttime sleep, but it may also reduce the drive to sleep at night, potentially contributing to nighttime sleep disturbances, another important potential risk factor for dementia."

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Researchers pointed out that daytime resting does not necessarily cause brain changes. Rather, changing nap habits could be an early warning sign of underlying changes in the brain.

Brain regions that help regulate wakefulness can start to break down in the early stages of dementia, leading to more frequent daytime fatigue, they noted.

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To double-check this, the team re-analyzed the data after removing anyone who developed dementia during the first five years.

The link between frequent, accidental naps and dementia remained just as strong, suggesting that changes in napping habits can show up years before a formal diagnosis.

The researchers emphasized that this was an observational study with limitations.

"We did not directly intervene on participants’ napping behaviors to examine whether changing these behaviors would affect their dementia risk," Spira and Jiang told Fox News Digital.

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"Although we don’t know whether napping causes dementia, our study findings suggest that daytime napping patterns may be useful indicators of future dementia risk," they added.

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The findings suggest that daytime napping patterns in older adults may be worth monitoring, particularly when naps become frequent or happen unintentionally, according to the researchers.