Thinking of knee surgery?

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The New England Journal of Medicine is reporting that patients who underwent placebo knee surgery for osteoarthritis were just as likely to report pain relief as those who had the real procedure. In other words, the surgery is worthless.

 

"The fact that the effectiveness of arthroscopic lavage or debridement in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee is no greater than that of placebo surgery makes us question whether the dollars spent on these procedures might not be put to better use," said lead investigator Dr. Nelda P. Wray, a health services researcher at the Houston VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

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