Category: Medical devices

Use of Dental Appliances in the Management of Tourette Syndrome

Editor’s note: This Science Based Medicine blog post is another collaborative effort between Grant Ritchey and Clay Jones. Not only have they previously co-authored an SBM post on fluoride, their partnership has recently expanded into other areas of science journalism. Since the departure of Dr. Jason Luchtefeld as co-host of The Prism Podcast, Clay has joined Grant as the new co-host. To...

, / June 17, 2016

The Blood Cleaner: Invented by Ray Jardine

I recently heard about a man who was planning a hike in a tick-infested area and thought he could avoid Lyme disease by using Ray Jardine’s Blood Cleaner. Ray Jardine is a well-known mountaineer, rock climber, long-distance hiker, and outdoor adventurer. A lightweight hiking enthusiast, he has branched out into selling lightweight equipment like backpack kits, tarps, and insulated hats. Most of...

/ June 14, 2016

Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Snake Oil

Noel Edmonds is a game show host, famous for Britain’s version of Deal or No Deal. As far as I can tell, he has no medical or scientific qualifications at all. This unfortunately has not stopped him from using his celebrity status to offer dubious medical advice via his Twitter feed. Such is the world in which we live. Edmonds tweeted, referring...

/ June 8, 2016

April Fool Cannot Surpass SCAM

It’s April Fools’ day in the US of A. One of the internet traditions is to come up with a story that is weird or unlikely, but not so weird or unlikely that it is not believable, in order to fool people that the story is real. I gave it the old SBM try, I really did, but I couldn’t do it....

/ April 1, 2016

Willow Curve Device for Pain: Strong Claims, Weak Evidence

Willow Curve is advertised as the “world’s first digital anti-inflammatory device”, “a laser smart device” designed to relieve joint pain with thermal and photonic energy. It contains over 150 bio-sensory and bio-therapeutic components that continuously monitor the body’s thermal and electrical response to the device, and computer chips use that information to tailor a digital prescription on the fly. That prescription consists...

/ October 20, 2015

Galvanic Skin Response Pseudoscience

Selling snake oil is all about marketing, which means that a good snake oil product needs to have a great angle or a hook. Popular snake oil hooks include being “natural,” the product of ancient wisdom, or “holistic.” Perhaps my favorite snake oil marketing ploy, however, is claiming the product represents the latest cutting-edge technology. This invariably leads to humorous sciencey technobabble....

/ July 22, 2015

Cryotherapy: A Layman’s Attempt to Understand the Science

NOTE: I get a lot of emails asking me whether treatment X is evidence-based or a scam. This one was different. Zachary Hoffman had done his homework and had already answered the question for himself (at least, as well as it could be answered with the existing published evidence). I asked him to write up his findings as a guest post for...

/ July 11, 2015

New FDA regulatory role threatens bogus diagnostic tests

The FDA regulates in vitro diagnostic devices (IVDs) as medical devices. IVDs analyze human samples, such as blood, saliva, tissue and urine. However, in the past, the agency did not use its authority to regulate what are known as “laboratory-developed tests” (LDTs), tests developed and performed at a single laboratory, with all samples sent to that particular lab for testing. Instead, it...

/ January 15, 2015

Do doctors pay attention to negative randomized clinical trials?

We at the Science-Based Medicine blog believe that all medicine, regardless of where it comes from, should be held to a single science-based standard with regards to efficacy, effectiveness, and safety. We tend to focus primarily on “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), now more commonly known as “integrative medicine,” because (1) we believe it to be undermining the scientific basis of medicine...

/ September 22, 2014

Point-of-Care Ultrasound: The Best Thing Since Stethoscopes?

A bit of good news for a change: a “Perspective” article in the New England Journal of Medicine describes how point-of-care ultrasound devices are being integrated into medical education. The wonders of modern medical technology are akin to science fiction. We don’t yet have a tricorder like “Bones” McCoy uses on Star Trek, but we are heading in that direction, and the...

/ March 25, 2014