Having suffered with arthritis for decades I was quite excited to read about a potential new arthritis treatment following the discovery of a new type of blood vessel in bones. Although I suffer with the pain of arthritis, I am quite lucky that only my fingers and wrists and afflicted.

Quite lucky because arthritis makes others suffer much worse. Remembering back to my teenage years in the early ‘70s, there had been a young woman in church beset with the disease. The only treatment at the time was steroids, which her doctor gave generously. As steroids will devour cartilage, she was left permanently crippled. Sadly, this broke up her engagement and hope of marriage. At least she had her parents to care for her, until they passed away.  Her remaining years were spent in a nursing home.

Spending a portion of the 2000s working in that very nursing home, I spent time with her as she told me the story. I felt so awfully sad seeing many other elders afflicted with the same disease, and the same results of the same treatment.

It made me enormously happy and reassured to recently read about the latest discovery in the fight to treat arthritis. The recent discovery of trans-cortical vessels (TCVs), a type of capillary, makes scientists hopeful for a new treatment for arthritis.

“A new kind of blood vessels in our bones has been discovered by scientists.”

“The newly-discovered capillaries – called trans-cortical vessels (TCVs) – penetrate the hard shell of bones in mice.”

“Researchers found they provide most of the blood supply to the bones.”

‘They also act as a ‘shortcut’ by carrying immune cells from the bone marrow to the injured area of the body – rather than the cells having to be ‘picked up’ by blood as it enters one end of the bone, travel through bone marrow, and exit the other end.”

‘When analyzing humans, the scientists found we too have similar blood vessels in the larger bones of our bodies.”

“The researchers hope their finding will lead to the development of new therapies that use this blood flow and immune cell migration to help treat inflammatory conditions, such as osteoarthritis.”

Daily Mail

While reading of this new discovery I became filled with joy and relief. Watching people being consumed by arthritis was sorrowful – I hope this new discovery allows a cure to be created to end the horrible human suffering.