Webinar on Placebo Controlled Trials in Surgery and Physical or Psychological Pain Management

10th Jan 2024

Date: 10 January 2024 / 6:30 pm
Virtual Zoom

Both, trials of surgical interventions and of non-pharmacological interventions are difficult to design and implement. A key challenge is to control for placebo effects, for example through blinding. To facilitate high-quality placebo-controlled trials, the webinar’s speakers have formulated the key guiding statements in their respective fields, the ASPIRE guidelines for surgery and the CoPPS statement for physical and psychological interventions.

Starting with surgical trials, Prof Beard will outline why surgical trials are difficult to deliver. He will introduce what comparators can be used for trials of surgery and when a placebo-controlled design should and should not be used. He will then discuss the nuances of a placebo-controlled trial in surgery, drawing on landmark studies such as the SUCCESS and CSAW trials and covering the ASPIRE guidelines. Design and number of arms, ethical considerations, delivery and conduct of placebo-controlled surgical trials, interpretation and implementation issues will also be touched on.
Focusing on trials of physical, psychological, and self-management interventions, Dr Hohenschurz-Schmidt will similarly introduce their unique challenges and discuss the need for an improved and standardised approach to the design, conduct, and reporting of such trials. He will outline the key recommendations of the CoPPS statement and highlight how these may be implemented in trials of different non-pharmacological interventions for pain.

Register here