Health Policy Affairs

SIR and 33 other societies representing physicians who treat chronic pain signed a statement by the International Pain and Spine Intervention Society (IPSIS) asking The BMJ (formerly The British Medical Journal) to retract a new clinical guideline and systematic review/network meta-analysis recently published in the journal.

The request highlights the short-comings of the systematic review and clinical guideline noting the authors inappropriately aggregate certain data while omitting other data entirely. Because of the methodological issues, the societies asked BMJ to retract the guideline so it does not cause potential policy issues or disruptions to patient care.

“While “interventional spine procedures are not a panacea,” IPSIS noted they “can offer substantial relief, improve function, allow for return to work, and may delay or obviate the need for more invasive surgical interventions or long-term reliance on opioids for select patients suffering from chronic pain.”

Read the response.