IS PLACEBO ANALGESIA MEDIATED BY ENDOGENOUS OPIOIDS - A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

This systematic review assesses six experimental studies into the mech anism of placebo analgesia in human subjects suffering from clinical p ain or experimentally induced ischaemic arm pain. Due to their sophist icated designs, these studies probably provide the best evidence that placebo analgesia exists. They also indicate that placebo analgesia is mediated by endogenous opiates. However, there seems to be room for a dditional studies. (C) 1998 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.