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Article: Arthroscopic surgery for knees isn't effective, study shows.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- July 10, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PHILADELPHIA _ An operation used more than 200,000 times each year to ease the pain of arthritic knees worked no better than a fake surgery, Texas researchers have concluded.
Interestingly, though, the placebo surgery wasn't bad.
Thirty-five to 40 percent of patients who had undergone either real arthroscopic surgery or a fake operation designed to mimic the real procedure thought they were better, according to a study published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
On average, patients in each group reported a 20 percent improvement in pain and functioning of the knee. Some found they needed less medicine and could exercise more. ...