Diving Deep: The Importance of In-Depth Statistical Analysis in Medical Research

Author(s): Marcos Sforza, Renee Okhiria, Terrell Okhiria

Background: Motiva silicone breast implants were recently discovered to perform much more effectively than competing silicone implants, with a reoperation rate less than 1%. However, a vast majority of the underlying methods behind this analysis was removed from the original published paper.

Objective: This paper aims to reintroduce the detailed methods used by the authors to statistically justify this low reoperation rate, whilst further supporting the importance of including this information in the available medical literature.

Methods: This paper demonstrated the detailed methods omitted from the published paper, estimating true risk ratio using confidence intervals to make accurate inferences regarding the reoperation rates of the Motiva silicone breast implants, based on 5813 consecutive cases of breast augmentation.

Results: The true risk rate for Motiva silicone breast implants is less than 1.02%, with an even lower reoperation rate possible if sources of endogeneity were to be omitted from the study.

Conclusion: Overall, the inclusion of these detailed statistical methods is needed for readers to gain a full understanding of the low reoperation rates related to Motiva Implants.