Look at this article published in today's New England Journal of Medicine:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/359/11/1097?query=TOC
I'll quote the conclusion: "Arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee provides no additional benefit to optimized physical and medical therapy."
That means that it doesn't work any better than exercise and inflammation management. Except that it has all the dangers of surgery. All the risks, no additional benefits....
This is noteworthy study because this type of surgery is almost routine and also because it is extremely rare for surgical procedures to be subjected to randomized trials. It is a powerful reminder that today's state of the art will probably be malpractice in 10 to 15 years.
As always, caveat emptor.
Dr. Jean-Marc
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