Doctors are against the study of quack methods in medicine
Experts urged not to spend money on trials of treatment with the imposition of hands
In a letter published on August 20 in the journal Trends in Molecular Medicine, "Clinical studies of integrative medicine methods: Testing the work of magic?" oncologist David Gorski from Wayne State University School of Medicine and neurologist Steven Novella from Yale University note that in the last 20 years, conducting such trials has become it is very popular in medical academic circles despite limited budgets and unclear scientific background of the objects of study. Gorski and Novella are also the founders and editors of the Science-Based Medicine blog, dedicated to the analysis of the scientific basis of medical practices.
As Gorski and Novella write, in addition to unjustified expenses, the harm from clinical research of alternative medicine methods is that its adherents then use the very fact of conducting such tests as justification for the right of such methods to exist, which leads to their legitimization and infiltration of pseudoscience into academic medicine.
As an example, experts cite homeopathy and reiki, which are very popular in the USA. A search in the PubMed database for the query "homeopathy, randomized clinical trials" yields more than 400 links. The most notable of these, Gorski and Novella note, are two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials on the treatment of acute childhood diarrhea with homeopathic medications in Nicaragua and Honduras. The first of them demonstrated a dubious effect, and the second – a complete lack of effect. At the same time, substances that have never been studied in relation to childhood diarrhea were used in both cases, and two of them – arsenic and mercury – are clearly toxic, which is compensated by the fact that all homeopathic ingredients are diluted with water to a state of complete absence.
As for the reiki method (treatment by touching palms that allegedly emit healing energy), the preclinical probability of a positive therapeutic effect exceeding placebo tends to zero due to the complete lack of scientific confirmation of the existence of such energy and the ability of people to control it, Gorski and Novella note. Nevertheless, many, including very prestigious, American hospitals have reiki therapy programs and clinical studies of this method are being conducted. A systematic review of their results did not reveal a therapeutic effect from the use of reiki in any diseases.
"All clinical trials should be based on scientifically confirmed results of preclinical studies. As long as alternative medicine methods do not reach such a level of preclinical evidence, their inclusion in the clinical research program is not legitimate either from a scientific or ethical point of view," Gorski and Novella emphasize. At the same time, they appeal to patients to include their critical thinking when deciding on the choice of a treatment method, whether it relates to alternative medicine or not. "Critical thinking will help patients understand that the effectiveness of the proposed course of therapy is not confirmed by previous results or the prospects described by the healer are too rosy to be true," experts say.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru22.08.2014