"Sham" surgery yields improvement - the surgical placebo?
Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy versus Sham Surgery for a Degenerative Meniscal Tear How does one know what part of a surgical procure is responsible for improvement? For example, in rotator cuff repair surgery we've seen many articles demonstrating functional improvement even though the repair doesn't work (i.e. it does not result in a durable reattachment of the cuff to the humeral tuberosity). So we may not always understand how surgery helps. These authors conducted a multicenter, randomized, double-blind trial in 146 patients 35 to 65 years of age who had knee symptoms consistent with a degenerative medial meniscus tear and no knee osteoarthritis. After diagnostic arthroscopy patients were randomly assigned to arthroscopic partial meniscectomy or a sham surgery. Only the orthopedic surgeon and other staff in the operating room were made aware of the group assignment, and they did not participate in further treatment or follow-up of the patient. For patients having arthr...