An objection to the New England Journal of Medicine vertebroplasty articles.

摘要

We read with interest the recent editorial in Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal by Munk et al [1], which discussed some reasons for questioning the conclusions of the recent vertebroplasty trials published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) [2,3]. We read these studies and had also noticed several problems that seemed to throw the conclusions into serious doubt. Our letter to the editor of NEJM was not accepted, but it is included here.Two articles recently published in the NEJM, one by Kallmes et al [2] and another by Buchbinder et al [3] purport to have tested properly selected and randomized groups of patients with vertebral compression fracture (VCF) to percutaneous vertebroplasty versus a sham procedure. They claim to show no clinical difference between the 2. The implication of the articles is that vertebroplasty may be worthless and that its alleged benefits are probably caused by the "placebo effect."