Abandoned – The Withdrawn

PR-001

Psychosurgery

The Prefrontal Lobotomy — a Nobel, 40,000 Wrecked Brains, Then a Pill Killed It

death irreversible-disability non-consensual-treatment neurosurgery psychiatry 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s

Chlorpromazine / Thorazine (1952) · Abandoned

PR-002

Cardiac Surgery

Internal Mammary Artery Ligation — the Angina Cure Fake Surgery Matched in 1959

ineffective-surgery unnecessary-operation cardiology cardiothoracic-surgery 1950s 1960s

Cobb et al., NEJM, 28 May 1959 (double-blind, sham-controlled) · Abandoned

PR-003 · 1962

Surgical Innovation

Gastric Freezing — Froze 15,000 Stomachs, Then a Sham Freeze Worked Just as Well

bleeding ineffective-procedure perforation gastroenterology general-surgery 1960s

Ruffin et al. cooperative double-blind sham trial, NEJM 1969 · Abandoned

PR-004

Surgical Oncology

The Halsted Radical Mastectomy — 75 Years of Mutilation That Bought No Extra Survival

disfigurement lymphedema unnecessary-radical-surgery general-surgery surgical-oncology 1900s 1950s 1970s 1980s

NSABP B-04 — no survival advantage at 25-yr follow-up (NEJM 2002) · Abandoned

PR-005 · 2002

Sham-Controlled

Arthroscopic Débridement for Knee Arthritis — Pure Placebo, So Medicare Stopped Paying in 2002

ineffective-surgery low-value-care unnecessary-operation orthopedics sports-medicine 1980s 1990s 2000s

Moseley et al., NEJM 2002 (sham-controlled); confirmed by Kirkley et al., NEJM 2008 · Abandoned

PR-006 · 2009

Spinal Procedure

Vertebroplasty for Spinal Fractures — the Cement Fix Two Sham Trials Killed in 2009

ineffective-procedure low-value-care orthopedics pain-medicine radiology 1990s 2000s

Kallmes (INVEST, 131) & Buchbinder (78), NEJM, 6 Aug 2009 · Restricted

PR-007

Cell Therapy

Fetal Nigral Cell Transplants for Parkinson’s — the Brain Graft That Triggered Unswitchable Dyskinesias

dyskinesia graft-induced-injury ineffective-procedure neurology neurosurgery 1980s 1990s 2000s

Freed NEJM RCT (2001); Olanow Ann Neurol RCT (2003) · Abandoned

PR-008 · 2000

Oncology

High-Dose Chemotherapy with Bone-Marrow Rescue for Breast Cancer — the Proof Was Faked

research-fraud toxic-overtreatment treatment-related-death hematology oncology 1980s 1990s 2000s

Philadelphia Intergroup (PBT-1) / Stadtmauer, NEJM 2000 · Discredited

PR-009

Psychiatric Shock Therapy

Insulin Coma Therapy — Dozens of Near-Fatal Comas, Beaten by a Sleeping Pill

death ineffective-procedure irreversible-disability psychiatry 1930s 1940s 1950s

Ackner, Harris & Oldham randomized controlled trial, The Lancet (1957) · Discredited

PR-010

Focal Sepsis

Henry Cotton’s Surgical Bacteriology — Yanking Teeth and Colons, Killing a Third of Patients

death mutilation non-consensual-treatment general-surgery psychiatry 1910s 1920s 1930s

Greenacre follow-up audit (1924–25); Kopeloff–Kirby controlled trial (1920s) · Discredited

PR-011 · 1835

Humoral Theory

Therapeutic Bloodletting — 2,000 Years of Care Pierre Louis Disproved by Counting Corpses

anemia iatrogenic-harm ineffective-procedure internal-medicine 1830s pre-1900

Louis, Researches on the Effects of Bloodletting — numerical method (1835) · Obsolete

PR-012

Obstetric Anesthesia

Twilight Sleep — Painless Childbirth That Only Erased the Memory and Half-Smothered Newborns

maternal-injury neonatal-harm non-consensual-restraint anesthesiology obstetrics 1900s 1910s 1950s 1960s

Mounting hazard reports from c.1916; Carmody death (Aug 1915) · Obsolete

PR-013 · 2006

Obstetric Surgery

Routine Episiotomy — the Preventive Cut That Caused the Very Tears It Promised to Stop

low-value-care perineal-injury unnecessary-surgery obstetrics 1920s 1980s 2000s

Argentine Episiotomy Trial (Lancet, 1993); Hartmann/AHRQ systematic review (JAMA, 2005) · Restricted

PR-014

Otolaryngology

Routine Tonsillectomy — a Million Needless Operations a Year, Some Fatal

low-value-care surgical-death unnecessary-surgery otolaryngology pediatrics 1900s 1930s 1960s 1970s

Glover variation study (1938); Paradise NEJM randomized trial (1984) · Restricted

PR-015 · 1985

Cerebrovascular Surgery

The Extracranial-Intracranial Bypass — Two Decades of Faith a 1,377-Patient Trial Demolished in 1985

ineffective-surgery low-value-care perioperative-stroke neurology neurosurgery 1960s 1970s 1980s

International EC/IC Bypass Study, NEJM, 7 Nov 1985 · Abandoned

Once standard of care. Then disconfirmed.