The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    Acupuncture and the NICE guideline on osteoarthritis

    The UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published a new guideline on the care and management of osteoarthritis.

    It states that there’s insufficient evidence to recommend acupuncture.

    Prof. Adrian White from the Peninsula Medical School tells us “there appears to be 3 areas where the guidelines may have not used the available evidence in the most appropriate manner.”

    • Data on the long-term effectiveness of acupuncture may have been misinterpreted.
    • The specific rejection of electroacupuncture indicates a restricted understanding of acupuncture as a treatment.
    • Cost-effectiveness calculations used comparisons with sham acupuncture (“placebo”) when comparison with standard care would have been more appropriate.

    The bottom line?
    Prof. White concludes, “The guideline may therefore lead some patients with osteoarthritis to miss out on a treatment that may be effective for them.”

    Reviewers from the University of Maryland, in Baltimore appear to agree with Prof. White.
    6/11/09 21:42 JR

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