Article from SMH.

Placebo effect is powerful: researcher

DANNY ROSE

February
19, 2010

AAP

The placebo effect is both real and "powerful", an Australian
researcher says, and it could be harnessed to boost medical care
outcomes.

For a decade, Damien Finniss has been studying the mysterious
phenomenon, in
which dummy treatments are known to have a startling effect on the human
body.

"Some placebo responses are tremendously big, they can be as equal as
an active drug," Mr Finniss, of the University of Sydney's Pain
Management
and Research Institute, told AAP.

"It's as simple as belief and expectancy, and trust in the
doctor."

Mr Finniss conducted a review of the global pool of research into the
placebo effect for a paper published in The Lancet.

The first references to phenomenon can be traced back through the
medical
literature to the 1700s, though it did not become a topic for serious
study
until the 1950s.

He said it was now increasingly seen as a promising target for
research
into the interaction between the mind and the chemical processes of the
brain.

"To some it has been controversial ... other people have seen that it
is something that has merit, is powerful and can be used in a clinical
setting," Mr Finniss also said.

The review highlighted research that shows the placebo effect in
action, and
how it comes in a variety of forms.

One study involved people who were taking opioid-based pain killers
and who
were then switched unknowingly onto a placebo.

The participants continued to report a benefit from the dummy pills,
and
this was confirmed by brain scans.

"Areas in the brain rich in opioid receptors become activated to a
placebo," Mr Finniss said.

"The brain changes to the placebo are very similar to real changes to
opioid analgesics".

Similar tests have been done with a different type of pain killer -
non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) - which take affect in a
different part of the brain.

The switch to a placebo again resulted in chemical changes only in
the part
of the brain where NSAIDs take effect.

"Advanced technology and research methodology has identified
different
placebo effects across the body, such as placebo-induced changes in
heart, lung
and hormone function," Mr Finniss said.

Another study showed how treating patients via an automated process -
such
as having a pain killer administered via a computerised pump - could
make
potent drugs "significantly less effective".

Participants would respond normally to the same dose when it was
administered by a doctor, Mr Finniss said.

This showed how personalised medical care alone could prompt a
placebo
effect.

"You don't have to give a placebo to get a placebo effect," Mr
Finniss said.

"And therefore, ethically, we should be learning about the
other
component of (placebo effect in) normal medical practise and enhancing
it so we
can improve outcomes."

© 2010 AAP

Refence"

 Biological,
clinical, and ethical advances of placebo effects ...

By - Dr Damien
G Finniss MSc
[Med], Ted J Kaptchuk, Franklin Miller PhD, ... Edzard Ernst. The
Lancet Oncology 1
January 2010; Volume 11, Issue 1: Page 20 ...

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140...2/abstract
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