Debunking Medical Myths: Deflating Time-Tested Untruths

The word debunking has come into relatively common use these days, and not just in medicine. It is constructed from the prefix de-, meaning “to remove,” and the word bunk. But what’s the origin of the word bunk… denoting the nonsense that is to be removed? As it turns out, believe it or not, a great piece of Americana…

During the 16th Congress of the United States (1819–1821), Felix Walker, a representative from western North Carolina whose district included Buncombe County, carried on forever with a dull speech despite angry protests by his colleagues present in the chamber at the time. Walker later explained he had felt obligated “to make a speech for Buncombe.” It became an iconic example of empty talk that would not be ignored by the speakers of the language, and Buncombe, spelled Bunkum in its first recorded appearance in 1828 and later shortened to bunk, became synonymous with claptrap or nonsense. The response to all this bunk seems to have been delayed for the term debunk is not recorded until 1923.¹

This is what the word has come to mean:

• Expose while ridiculing;
• Especially of pretentious or false claims and ideas;
• Uncloak, unmask, reveal the true nature;
• Cut down to size, disparage, lampoon, deflate, puncture.

Myths and untruths abound in vascular practice and all of medicine. Not unlike other walks of life, they are almost surely the product of “typical human behavior” and they tend to share a few things in common, especially these: they are all unproven and untrue.

Let’s start by listing a few commonly-voiced falsehoods:

• Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years;
• Cracking your knuckles will cause arthritis later in life;
• One can catch a STD (sexually-transmitted disease) from a toilet seat;
• Feeding kids sugar causes hyperactivity;
• Chocolate causes acne;
• Teething causes a fever.

And some that ring like medical facts but are completely off-base and plain wrong:

• People should drink at least 8 glasses of water a day;
• We use only 10% of our brain;
• Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death;
• Shaving hair causes it to grow faster, darker, coarser;
• Reading in dim light can ruin your eyesight;
• Eating turkey makes people drowsy;
• Eating at night makes you fat;
• Flu shots can cause the flu.

I could go on… but won’t.

Physicians and the public at large would do well to question statements and time-honored truths they learn from relatives and friends, and even from their physician. Supportive evidence is the thing to look or ask for. Many such myths do little if any harm. However, in medical practice, there are times when such beliefs can lead to the wrong plan of action or, even worse, they get in the way of implementing necessary therapies.  

The vascular and interventional fields are not immune to such untruths. Here are a few examples:

• Stenting should not performed in the common femoral artery, ever;
• A full metal jacket for the SFA is bound to fail and ill-fated, always;
• In the EVAR field, you never leave the OR with an uncorrected type I endoleak;
• Saccular aneurysms are more dangerous than fusiform aneurysms;
• Catheter-based revascularization will never work in below-the-knee vasculature;
• And many more.

The purpose of this short editorial is not to list all the myths and untruths but, rather, to bring these issues to everyone’s attention. There is really no substitute for critical thinking and a healthy dose of skepticism in the face of statements or ‘maxims’ that sound suspicious and are not factually based.

Reference

1. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009.