We know so little about a person and his abilities that some simple truths can be confusing. For example, the placebo effect is one of those phenomena that puts modern positivist science in a quandary. Can a dummy pill plus a person's faith work miracles?
The amazing power of placebos has been proven multiple times in various studies. I will say more, this happens constantly when analyzing drugs, the effectiveness of which is compared with the action of a pacifier. Pain, depression, and some neurological conditions are particularly well treated with pacifiers. The strength of a person's faith is sufficient even for the effect of "fake" surgical operations.
Mental cement
How about getting rid of the need for surgery on a destroyed vertebra by the power of faith? We are talking about vertebroplasty. This type of intervention is used when severe pain occurs as a result of a compression fracture of the vertebral body. Then, with the help of special equipment, medical cement is injected into the vertebral body, which allows you to return to its former shape and strengthens the vertebra from the inside, forming its structure.
How might the placebo effect be related to surgery? A new BBC documentary explores the healing power of the mind. Dr. David Kallmes has specialized in vertebroplasty surgery at the Mayo Clinic for the past 15 years. He is the leading surgeon of the clinic in this field. He believes that the fictitious operation is as effective as the real one. And it's not that vertebroplasty is useless. Kellms called this "sham surgery."
He first thought about it when he noticed that the quality of the operation is not always related to the effect. Sometimes, even in the case of a not very successful operation, patients felt great. There were reasonable doubts about the reasons for the improvement in well-being.
Of course, Kellms does not argue that the placebo effect can replace tumor resection. However, doctors are beginning to realize that placebos have some power even in surgery.
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Lies for life
He decided to conduct an experiment to prove whether vertebroplasty is more effective than placebo. Some of the patients underwent vertebroplasty, and some, not realizing, imitation. Their fate was decided by a random choice of computer. It was a well-played show. The preparation, local anesthesia, puncture, and the surgeon's words were no different. Even the smell of cement in the operating room was felt in both cases.
Some patients had rather serious spinal disorders. However, in the end, it turned out that vertebroplasty did not have statistically significant differences compared to sham surgery. Of course, their bones didn't heal, but the pain went away. The functions were restored in the same way.
This was shocking information, because more than a million operations of this type have already been performed around the world. At the same time, patients who underwent vertebroplasty or placebo surgery felt better than before or without treatment.
It is difficult to talk about the ethical side of sham surgery. However, for the scientific community, it is a prime example of the untapped potential of human thinking.