Don’t go under the knife for this useless surgery

Over ten years ago I warned you that a very common type of knee surgery was actually worse than doing nothing.

That operation isn’t done very much anymore. But there’s a very, very similar surgery for a very similar knee problem that’s is still done — a lot.

Over 500,000 times a year, in fact!

So they must have found a way to make that second surgery more effective, right? I mean they knew over a decade ago that the first operation was a waste of time.

And who wants to go through the pain and spend all that money for something that doesn’t work?

It’s about ‘nothing’

Now this new study, from Finland, looked at an almost identical treatment for a very common problem: a torn meniscus in the knee. How they “repair” that tear is by making two tiny incisions (why it’s called “keyhole” surgery) and then operate using a “micro” telescope and instruments.

The researchers in Finland took 146 patients suffering from a torn meniscus and gave one group the real keyhole procedure — where they actually remove part of the cartilage — and the other half a “sham” operation (just like in the first study).

The surgeons pretended they were doing the real thing, moving the knee around, inserting a scope and jangling surgical instruments near the knee. And only they knew which group was which.

And the results?

Nearly everyone was happy. Actually, the ones who had nothing done were even happier. In that group, 96 percent said their knees felt better, and they would do it all over again if they had to. As for the ones who really had the procedure, well, they were 93 percent satisfied.

If you do the math, doctors have performed around six million of these worthless keyhole surgeries in the last decade or so.

That’s a pretty penny in sham surgeries.

Especially since the lead researcher concluded that “…it seems clear that instead of surgery, the treatment of such patients should hinge on exercise and rehabilitation.”

Twelve years ago I called this little more than a parlor trick. But since this torn meniscus technique is called one of the most common surgical procedures (right up there with cataract surgery), I’m upgrading that title.

It’s one of the most successful parlor tricks in the books.

Sources:

“Knee ops to repair torn cartilage are ‘waste of time'” Medical News Today, 12/30/2013 medicalnewstoday.com

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