Arthroscopic Surgery No More Effective Than A Placebo

[Indy107]

Excerpts from my blog posting this morning....

In the Summer of 1994, Sylvester Colligan, a 76-year-old World War II veteran from Beaumont, Tex., underwent Arthroscopic knee surgery to relieve arthritis pain in his knee. Sylvester's surgery was a success and now, years later, he is perfectly healed and walking without any pain whatsoever.

But there is a catch to this story............he never actually had any surgery at all.

He just 'thought' he did.
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So Dr Moseley designed a trial where 180 patients would be put under the knife for arthroscopic knee surgery. They would be divided up into 3 groups. Group 1 would receive just the flushing. Group 2 would receive just the scraping, and group 3 would receive a placebo. In order for the placebo group to be convinced, it would have to look as if they really did have the surgery. So small incisions were made in the knee and then immediately sewed up, while a video tape was played of a previous, real surgery. No other procedure was done to the placebo patients.
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During two years of follow-up, patients in all three groups reported moderate improvements in pain and ability to function. However, neither of the intervention groups reported less pain or better function than the placebo group. Indeed, the placebo patients reported better outcomes than the debridement patients at certain points during follow-up. Throughout the two years, the patients were unaware of whether they had received real or placebo surgery.

Full article is here