New York Times reports that many surgeries are still being performed even though evidence suggest they do not help patients.
Randomized clinical trials have shown that many surgeries are closed to being totally useless. Most of these surgeries are performed intending to help pain, particularly pains in the spine and knees. However, their success rate are usually quite low. Based on our clinical observations, we find that, in addition to the risk of complications, many patient patients’ condition worsen significantly after surgery. Not only that, scar tissues build up around the site of surgery. These patient tend to be much less responsive to treatment of acupuncture and herbs.
Our general advice to patient is this: unless it is an emergency surgery, patient should always seek a second opinion. If there is no compelling evidence for surgery, patient should start with conservative treatment options like physical therapy and/or acupuncture for pain management.