Idealogian

Placebo Effect

Strong Placebo, Strong Parkinson's Effect

[An] unusual clinical trial, first reported in 2001, looked at whether transplants of embryonic brain cells could help people with Parkinson's disease. All 39 people in the study had four holes drilled in their skulls under local anesthesia. Half of them actually got the transplants. The other half received sham surgery -- meaning patients received no treatment other than having holes drilled.

Thirty of the patients agreed to participate in a quality-of-life study after the surgery. As part of the study, they were asked whether they thought they got the transplant or placebo.

"Those who thought they received the transplant at 12 months reported better quality of life than those who thought they received the sham surgery, regardless of which surgery they actually received," researcher Cynthia McRae, PhD, of the University of Denver, says in a news release.

Moreover, doctors -- who did not know which surgery the patients got -- also rated these patients as doing better. The findings appear in the April issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

. . .

"Research indicates that the more extreme the placebo treatment is in a clinical trial, the more susceptible participants are to the placebo effect, or believing that they are being helped by the sham medication or treatment," McRae and colleagues note. "This study involved brain surgery -- arguably an extreme placebo treatment. ... The results are consistent with a strong placebo effect."

Thanks for the link, Uncle Harry!