What is the value of a systematic review?

My friend Dr. Brad Edwards, an orthopedic surgeon in Houston Texas, is on the editorial board for the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery. He recently wrote a short article on the value of systematic reviews. There has been a recent surge in systematic reviews to journals, and I for one am frustrated to see so many of them end with, “There’s not enough evidence for a conclusion.” Rightly so, Dr. Edwards suggests if this is the conclusion to the review, then it shouldn’t be published. Couldn’t agree more. The purpose of a systematic review is to synthesize the literature and pool the data to increase the statistical power; not to tell us that we need more research, which we already know!