|  Even Samuel Hahnemann didn't have a cure for scepticism. The father of homoeopathy, who founded the alternative system of medicine nearly 250 years ago, would have been at a loss over the recent study published in the medical journal Lancet. The review dismisses homoeopathic tablets as dummy drugs, saying the white pills work no better than placebos.
The Lancet research by Matthias Egger of the University of Berne, his Swiss colleagues from Zurich University and a UK team at the University of Bristol found disappointing results from homoeopathic treatment of asthma, allergies and muscular problems. They analysed 110 trials using homoeopathic remedies and an equal number using conventional medicine in similar conditions. Homoeopathic remedies were more likely to have a positive effect in the small, low quality trials. In the better trials, according to the researchers, homoeopathy was no better than a placebo. Homoeopaths disagree. They say that earlier analyses of studies drew positive conclusions and the placebo-controlled randomised trial was not a fitting research tool. In India, the largest user of homoeopathic medicines, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss plans to counter the claims by sending several findings from the country to Lancet. Ironically, the debate comes barely two years after who recognised homoeopathy as a form of traditional medicine. | | | HEART OF THE MATTER | | | |  It is heartening news. The Health Ministry is planning to bring all medical devices under the purview of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, much to the relief of medical experts and heart patients who have been raising an alarm over the use of sub-standard stents. The move will ensure standardisation and proper regulations for improving the quality of the devices. A panel will soon draw up a list of devices to be classified and the authority to approve it before they are sold..
| | | | SCREEN TEST | | There is growing concern over the harmful effects of CT scans | | | | |  Unregulated medical screenings like a computed tomography, or CT scan, can cause significant harm to the body, according to the New Scientist. With one such scan exposing a patient to ionising radiation 100 times the dosage in a mammogram, it is small wonder that the science and ethics group of the British Medical Association has expressed serious concern about people opting for the screening.
According to consultants, a full-body scan increases the risk of a person subsequently developing fatal cancer by .08 per cent and younger people are more susceptible. At the same time, it can turn out to be an expensive exercise because the full-body scan looks through the entire body and is likely to come across some minor, avoidable abnormality. If for instance, the scan detects a small lung nodule, the patient has to go through an invasive test even though it may not turn out to be cancerous. The risk coupled with the increased cost of medication is in some cases worsened by the avoidable psychological trauma. With the boom in diagnostic centres in India and increased recommendations by doctors-not always to people most at risk of a disease-screening tests may be unduly increasing the chances of cancer. Heightened awareness and discretion in the use of scans will be key to escaping the fatal fallout. -Compiled by Amarnath K. Menon | Next |
