A nice randomized, controlled, double-blind study of 131 patients, just out in the New England Journal of Medicine, reports that vertebroplasty, a popular (and expensive) treatment for osteoporotic spinal fractures, did no better than placebo. Link to Article

A second study from Australia of 78 people found 

the same: no benefit over placebo. Both treatment and placebo groups showed a reduction in pain. Link to article

Randy Horwitz PhD MD, internist and medical director of the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, had this to say: "Another one bites the dust. What’s shocking to me is that there is no mention of this on the Quackwatch website. I was sure that they’d be all over this unproven and worthless therapy."

My take (and I’m sure Dr. Horwitz would agree) is that we should put a lot more research money into finding out why placebos work and how we can utilize the mind-body connection to reliably produce safe, cost-effective clinical improvements. Unnecessary and ineffective surgical procedures aren’t the best way to elicit the placebo response, and are a poor use of our health care dollar(s).

But the doctors who make a living doing these procedures won’t tell you that.

Paul Abramson MD