Placebo Surgery Controlled Trials: Do They Achieve What They Set Out to Do? A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objective:To explore whether placebo surgery controlled trials achieve what they set out to do by investigating discrepancy between projected and actual design aspects of trials identified through systematic review methods.Summary Background:Interest in placebo surgery controlled trials is growing in response to concerns regarding unnecessary surgery and the societal cost of low-value healthcare. As questions about the justifiability of using placebo controls in surgery have been addressed, attention is now being paid to more practical concerns.Methods:Six databases were searched from inception - May 2020 (MEDLINE, Embase, Emcare, APA PsycInfo, CINAHL, Cochrane Library). Placebo surgery cont..