Lessons Learned From Breast Implant Registries: A Systematic Review.

Area of Science:

• Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• Medical Informatics
• Public Health

Background:

• Numerous national and international breast implant registries have been established over decades.
• These registries aim to collect prospective data for enhanced patient and surgeon safety.
• A comprehensive review of published data on breast implant registries was conducted.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the availability and quality of data within breast implant registries.
• To determine the usefulness and impact of existing breast implant registry data.
• To evaluate the current state of documentation for breast augmentation procedures.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature search was performed across PubMed, Ovid, and Web of Science for English-language articles on breast implant registries.
• The review adhered to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and was registered with PROSPERO.
• Articles were screened for relevance to breast implant registries in plastic and reconstructive surgery, with no publication date limitations.

Main Results:

• Out of 895 identified articles, 20 met the inclusion criteria, with only 7 containing actual breast implant data.
• A minimal percentage of surgical breast augmentations are documented in registries compared to international trends.
• The overall data quality and availability in existing breast implant registries were found to be low.

Conclusions:

• A significant gap exists between performed breast augmentations and proper registry documentation.
• Currently, no published data originates from a clinical quality registry for breast implants.
• Sustained funding and robust governmental structures are essential for developing adequate clinical quality registries to analyze outcomes and improve patient safety.