PainSci » bibliography » Moseley et al 2002 A fascinating landmark study of placebo surgery for knee osteoarthritis updated Nov 10, 2016

Moseley JB, O’Malley K, Petersen NJ, et al. A controlled trial of arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee. N Engl J Med . 2002 Jul 11;347(2):81–8. . 2002 Jul 11;347(2):81–8. PubMed #12110735 ❐

Tags: knee, classics, running, counter-intuitive, surgery, arthritis, mind, scientific medicine, controversy, leg, limbs, pain problems, exercise, self-treatment, treatment, aging, debunkery

Eleven articles on PainSci cite Moseley 2002: (1) The Complete Guide to IT Band Syndrome (2) Complete Guide to Low Back Pain (3) The Complete Guide to Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (4) Complete Guide to Plantar Fasciitis (5) The Complete Guide to Neck Pain & Cricks (6) Your Back Is Not Out of Alignment (7) Should You Get A Lube Job for Your Arthritic Knee? (8) Surprising Pain Science (9) Do Nerve Blocks Work for Neck Pain and Low Back Pain? (10) Knee Surgery Sure is Useless! (11) Does Cartilage Regeneration Work?

PainSci summary of Moseley 2002: ?

In this landmark and fascinating study, people with osteoarthritis improved equally well regardless of whether they received a real surgical procedure or a sham, which is a particularly striking example of the placebo effect and implies that belief can have an effect even on a “mechanical” knee problem. From the abstract: “In this controlled trial involving patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, the outcomes after arthroscopic lavage or arthroscopic debridement were no better than those after a placebo procedure.”

In 2008, these findings were fully supported by a Cochrane Collaboration review (Laupattarakasem) which concluded that “there is ‘gold’ level evidence that arthoscopic debridement has no benefit,” and by New England Journal of Medicine (Kirkley) which reported that “surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee provides no additional benefit to optimized physical and medical therapy.”

This study inspired more comparisons of orthopedic surgeries to shams. By 2016, at least four more popular surgeries have been shown to have no benefit (Louw 2016).

~ Paul Ingraham

original abstract †

BACKGROUND: Many patients report symptomatic relief after undergoing arthroscopy of the knee for osteoarthritis, but it is unclear how the procedure achieves this result. We conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of arthroscopy for osteoarthritis of the knee. METHODS: A total of 180 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee were randomly assigned to receive arthroscopic debridement, arthroscopic lavage, or placebo surgery. Patients in the placebo group received skin incisions and underwent a simulated debridement without insertion of the arthroscope. Patients and assessors of outcome were blinded to the treatment-group assignment. Outcomes were assessed at multiple points over a 24-month period with the use of five self-reported scores--three on scales for pain and two on scales for function--and one objective test of walking and stair climbing. A total of 165 patients completed the trial. RESULTS: At no point did either of the intervention groups report less pain or better function than the placebo group. For example, mean (+/-SD) scores on the Knee-Specific Pain Scale (range, 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more severe pain) were similar in the placebo, lavage, and debridement groups: 48.9+/-21.9, 54.8+/-19.8, and 51.7+/-22.4, respectively, at one year (P=0.14 for the comparison between placebo and lavage; P=0.51 for the comparison between placebo and debridement) and 51.6+/-23.7, 53.7+/-23.7, and 51.4+/-23.2, respectively, at two years (P=0.64 and P=0.96, respectively). Furthermore, the 95 percent confidence intervals for the differences between the placebo group and the intervention groups exclude any clinically meaningful difference. CONCLUSIONS: In this controlled trial involving patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, the outcomes after arthroscopic lavage or arthroscopic debridement were no better than those after a placebo procedure.

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