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No. There is a process that occurs when piloting a new surgical technique. This often involves animal models initially, eg inducing duodenal perforation in pigs
by Gatsky 13y ago
No. There is a process that occurs when piloting a new surgical technique. This often involves animal models initially, eg inducing duodenal perforation in pigs and trying the surgery there. Then it might be practiced on human cadavers to work out more of the technical aspects. Then a feasibility study is performed on a small number of patients using a trial protocol ie. patients have to opt in after giving informed consent. As you can imagine, for sick patients coming in during the middle of the night, this can be tricky. Then if it seems feasible and successful, and you think that there is reasonable doubt that the new procedure could be better than the old (equipoise), you do a randomised trial.
- skue 13y agoThe next phase, going from validated new procedure/approach to broader adoption, has its own ethical issues. During my medical training I scrubbed into three surgeries that should have been routine, but where an experienced surgeon decided to try a new approach that he had heard about. All three cases went wrong, and one was near-fatal. Fortunately, there were no long term consequences. Learning new techniques in a field that requires hands on training with real patients who are entrusting their lives to the experience of the surgeon is a constant balancing act. It's the same with training new surgical residents -- which Atul Gawande also discusses in one of his earlier books, Complications.
- snowwrestler 13y agoThis careful, protective process is one reason that health care innovation costs so much more in the U.S. than it does in developing nations.