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Leveraging the Tracking Operations and Outcomes for Plastic Surgeons Database for Plastic Surgery Research: A
Denis Souto Valente1, Alison E Kaye1, Christopher J Simmons1
1From the Mãe de Deus Health System; University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; University of Kansas School of Medicine; Department of Research, American Society of Plastic Surgeons; Graduate Program in Medicine and Health Sciences, Pontifical University Catholic Rio Grande do Sul; Division of Plastic Surgery, Division of Health Services Research, University of Utah; and Plastic Surgery Northwest.
Summary:
The Plastic Surgeries Registry Network supported by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the Plastic Surgery Foundation offers a variety of options for procedural data and outcomes assessment and research. The Tracking Operations and Outcomes for Plastic Surgeons (TOPS) database is a registry created for and used by active members of ASPS to monitor all types of procedural outcomes. It functions as a way for individual or group practices to follow surgical outcomes and constitutes a huge research registry available to ASPS members to access for registry-based projects. The TOPS registry was launched in 2002 and has undergone several iterations and improvements over the years and now includes more than 1 million procedure records. Although ASPS member surgeons have proven valuable assets in contributing their data to the TOPS registry, fewer have leveraged the database for registry-based research. This article overviews the authors' experience using the TOPS registry for a database research project to demonstrate the process, usefulness, and accessibility of TOPS data for ASPS member surgeons to conduct registry-based research. This article pairs with the report of the authors' TOPS registry investigation related to 30-day adverse events associated with incision location for augmentation mammaplasty.
