Mock surgery tests have shown that some of our most popular surgeries are themselves fake.
intragastric balloons “arrived much fanfare in the 1980s,” because they could be implanted in the abdomen and inflated with air or water to fill most of the space. Unfortunately, surgical instruments often brought on the market before there was sufficient evidence of effectiveness and safety, and balloons were no exception.
The “gastric bubble” bubble burst during a study at the Mayo Clinic found 8 out of 10 balloons “spontaneously deflate”, which is potentially dangerous because they can pass Gets into the intestines and causes a blockage, as you can see at 0:40 below and in my video Is Gastric Balloon Surgery Safe and Effective for Weight Loss?.
However, before the balloons were deflated, apparently Reason Gastric erosions occur in half of patients, causing damage to the lining of their stomach. kicker Is That, in terms of inducing weight loss, they didn’t work as well as diet and other behavior modification strategies. Eventually, intragastric balloons were taken off the market. But now, balloons are back.
After a gap of 33 years, the US Food and Drug Administration started Approval of a new series of intragastric balloons in 2015, which allow immediate as a result In the placement of more than 5,000 instruments. By then, the Sunshine Act had arrived pass. It forced pharmaceutical companies and the surgical and medical device industry to disclose any payments made to physicians, shining a spotlight on the industry’s temptations. By now, most people Know Much is known about the extremely cozy financial relationships doctors have with Big Pharma, but what few people may realize is that surgeons may also receive payment from companies for the equipment they use. 100 Top Physician Recipients of Industry Payments get An incredible $12 million from device companies in a single year. Yet, when they published papers, scandalously, only a minority disclosed apparent conflicts of interest.
The advantage of balloons over most types of bariatric surgery is that they are reversible, but that does not mean they are benign. The FDA has issued a series of advisories about the risks, which may include death. But how can a smooth, round object cause a hole in someone’s stomach? the patient with that smooth, round object Vomit So much so that their stomach bursts and they die. nausea and vomiting Are Not surprisingly, “very common side effects” affect most people who have balloons placed inside them. There is also a possibility of continuous vomiting Let’s tell Cases of life-threatening nutrient deficiency after balloon implantation.
Some complications, such as bowel obstruction, Are Reasons for deflating balloons, but others, strangely, Are The sudden overinflation of the balloons caused pain, vomiting and abdominal distension, as you can see below and at 2:45 am Video.
This problem was first seen in breast implants documents In reports such as “Incidence of spontaneous breast implants”. Out of nowhere, the implants may begin to enlarge, increasing breast volume by an average of more than 50%. One review states, “It remains an under-reported and poorly understood phenomenon.” noted. (Interestingly, breast implants were actually used As for some of the first unsuccessful experimental intragastric balloons.)
However, like any medical decision, it’s all about risk versus benefit. industry-funded trials Display “Remarkable weight loss”, but it is hard to overcome the ballooning effect on your own with “supervised diet and lifestyle changes” as determined in the studies. In drug trials, you can randomly give sugar pills to study participants, but how do you eliminate the placebo effect of undergoing a procedure? Perform sham surgery.
There was a daring study in 2002 published In The New England Journal of Medicine. The most common orthopedic surgery – arthroscopic knee surgery – was tested. Billions of dollars are spent on inserting scopes into knee joints and cutting away damaged tissue in osteoarthritis and knee injuries, but does it really work? People suffering from knee pain were randomized to get real surgery instead of sham surgery, in which surgeons would make cuts in people’s knees and pretend to perform the procedure — even spraying saline — without actually treating the joints.
The trial created an uproar. How can someone randomly prepare people for a fake surgery? occupational therapy association questioned The ethics of the surgeons as well as the “intelligence” of the patients who agreed to be part of the trial. Guess what happened? surgical patient get Better, but the same thing happened to placebo patients, as you can see at 4:42 below and in my Video.
surgery Was No real effect. Currently undergoing rotator cuff shoulder surgery faced with Same crisis of confidence.
When there were intragastric balloons Keep For testing, sham-controlled trials showed Both old and new devices sometimes fail to provide any weight loss benefits. even when they do WorkWeight loss may be temporary because the balloons are only allowed To last for six months (at which point the risk of deflation becomes too high). Why can’t you put new ones? he is done tried; It failed to improve long-term weight outcomes. A sham-controlled trial showed that any effects of the balloons on hunger and satiety may disappear over time, perhaps as your body gets used to the new normal.
What the fake surgery tests have shown us is that some of our most popular surgeries are themselves fake. doctors Like To be proud to be men and women of science. For example, we rightly oppose the anti-vaccination movement. Many of us in the medical field are troubled by the political trend in which people “choose their own facts.” but when i Reading Some of these still popular surgeries are not only useless but may actually be useless. Make Even worse (for example, an increased risk of progressing to a total knee replacement), I can’t help but think that we are hardly immune to our own versions of fake news and alternative facts.
doctor’s note
Next in this two-part series is extreme weight loss tools.
For more information about bariatric surgery, see related posts below.
my book how not to diet Focuses exclusively on permanent weight loss. Borrow it from your local library or pick up a copy from your favorite bookseller. (All income from my books is donated to charity.)
