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The Power of the Placebo
Article

The Power of the Placebo

A recent study revealed that stents are likely ineffective at relieving chest pain. Why didn’t we know that?

Ethan Weiss
Slate, 2017
References: Al-Lamee et al. (2017)
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Recommendation

Among health care professionals, there is a strong emphasis on evidence-based medicine to determine what treatments to prescribe. Cardiologist Ethan Weiss reports on a new study that investigates the value of angioplasty for heart patients. The study found no benefit for stable chest pain when compared to a placebo. This controversial finding could influence how doctors treat their cardiac patients. getAbstract recommends this article to those interested in the pursuit of scientific truth.

Summary

Stents save patients’ lives when inserted during a heart attack.

A stent is a small wire mesh that a doctor inserts and inflates in a blocked artery. Throughout life, arteries gain a mixture of fats that build into plaques. In the 1980s, studies reported that plaques sometimes broke apart and caused heart attacks. Medical innovators developed a method known as angioplasty, or ‘stenting.’ Angioplasty works by expanding blocked vessels and should reduce pain and the chance of death. Medical professionals use this method to treat stable...

About the Author

Ethan Weiss, MD, is a cardiologist and associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco.

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