Certain spinal surgery found to have no real effect
In a strange story that has run for the last 19 years, spinal surgeries for fractures appear to have no more effect than a placebo. Researchers from across the globe have been creating studies to determine if vertebroplasty has any real benefit to patients. The reasoning behind the studies is that virtually all patients who have the procedure appear to have excellent positive results – which is almost unheard of in medicine. Making matters more unusual, the positive effects worked regardless of the procedure used or how much cement was used for the procedure. Researchers were also baffled at the mechanism that allowed the cement to relive pain from fractured bones in the spine. Up to this point no double blind studies of this procedure were done. Several studies were done but the patients knew ahead of time whether they were getting the cement or just a local anesthetic to stop the pain. Now with several double blind studies in, it was found that vertebroplasty did nothing for patients and worked exactly as well as a placebo. (Source: Forbes)
This was a revelation for the medical community because each year Medicare pays for over 40,000 of these procedures that typically costs around $3,000. Now the medical community needs to figure out what to do with these results. The patients that receive the cement in their spinal bones report dramatic decreases in pain, but the statistics prove that doing nothing does the same thing. Doctors are unwilling at this time to take away this procedure because it works so well for their patients. The real issue will be coming up when changes to the medical system happen later this year. Tests for which procedures work best and are most economical will be demanded of all procedures before they will be allowed to be performed. As part of the price control of Medicare and other programs, all procedures are going to have to prove themselves or the Government will not pay the bill.
The question we all have to ask is do we keep procedures that appear to work even after studies say they do not? Is it ethical to remove procedures that dramatically reduces pain and gives people back they lives? Do double blind studies always prove the validity of a procedure or how well it performs? These are all tough questions we will have to ask ourselves as we decide how medicine is practiced in the United States. While it is assured that things are going to change, what that change will be is yet to be seen.
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