ASPS Research, Evidence-Based Practice & Clinical Outcomes 3

Question 1

In evidence-based plastic surgery, a forest plot in a meta-analysis displays:

Accepted Answer

Effect sizes from individual studies and a pooled summary estimate

Answer

Dose-response relationships for surgical medications

Answer

Kaplan-Meier survival curves for implant longevity

Answer

Receiver operating characteristic curves for diagnostic tests

Question 2

Which of the following best describes a prospective cohort study design in plastic surgery research?

Accepted Answer

Patients are followed forward in time from exposure to observe subsequent outcomes

Answer

Patients are selected based on their outcome status and histories are reviewed backward

Answer

Patients are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups

Answer

A snapshot of disease prevalence is captured at a single point in time

Question 3

When evaluating implant-based breast reconstruction outcomes, the FDA's MAUDE database is used to report:

Accepted Answer

Medical device adverse events and device failures

Answer

Surgeon-specific complication benchmarks

Answer

Health-related quality of life after reconstruction

Answer

Reimbursement rates for reconstruction procedures

Question 4

In clinical outcomes research, an intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis includes:

Accepted Answer

All randomized patients regardless of protocol adherence or dropout

Answer

Only patients who completed the full protocol as planned

Answer

Only patients who experienced the primary outcome

Answer

Patients selected post-hoc based on optimal response to treatment

Question 5

Which statistical test is most appropriate for comparing a continuous outcome (e.g., scar width) between two independent groups of patients?

Accepted Answer

Independent samples t-test

Answer

Chi-square test

Answer

Paired t-test

Answer

Kaplan-Meier log-rank test

Question 6

In the context of ASPS clinical practice guidelines, a Grade A recommendation indicates that it is based on:

Accepted Answer

At least one well-designed RCT or consistent findings from multiple studies

Answer

Expert consensus and anecdotal evidence only

Answer

Animal or in vitro studies extrapolated to humans

Answer

Single case series with no comparison group

Question 7

Publication bias in plastic surgery literature refers to the tendency for:

Accepted Answer

Studies with positive or statistically significant results to be published more frequently

Answer

Surgeons to publish results from their highest-volume procedures

Answer

Industry-funded studies to be rejected by peer-reviewed journals

Answer

Case reports to be over-represented relative to RCTs