This article was medically authored by Dr. Sachin Sheth and last reviewed for accuracy on 02/23/2025.

When you're looking for knee pain relief from osteoarthritis, you may face a lot of expenses, due to the ongoing cost of solutions such as medication and physical therapy. Even worse? They often fail to provide effective relief. So, if you want to alleviate knee osteoarthritis pain while preserving your mobility, sparing your wallet, and avoiding surgery? It’s time to learn more about GAE (genicular artery embolization), since the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR) just concluded that this minimally invasive procedure is a cost-effective knee osteoarthritis treatment.

The Cost of Resolving Knee Pain Due to Osteoarthritis

Joint pain in the knees is a problem for at least 80% of individuals with osteoarthritis. As such, it's not surprising that providing those individuals with knee pain relief costs over $80 billion according to this just-released study. Now, you can treat knee osteoarthritis in a variety of ways, but this study looked at three of them: GAE, RFA [radiofrequency ablation] and CS [corticosteroid injection], exploring their associated costs over a four-year period. Here’s what their findings revealed.

GAE: The Most Cost-Effective Knee Osteoarthritis Treatment

GAE, RFA and CS, the three treatments compared in the study, all provide non-surgical knee pain relief. But when it comes to their associated expenses over the course of the study, researchers noted that “GAE was consistently the most likely cost-effective treatment option compared to RFA and CS.” They also hoped that this information would help patients narrow down their knee osteoarthritis treatment options.

Of course, how much you pay for the GAE procedure depends on several factors, including your insurance coverage. Still, this minimally invasive procedure will improve your quality of life by reducing your pain and improving your mobility, all without surgery. Want to learn more about GAE, from the costs to your candidacy for the procedure? Reach out to our team at the Georgia Knee institute so we can answer all your questions.