A plea to improve statistical analyses and methods in plastic surgery

摘要

In 1968, a group of researchers at the University of Michigan attempted to answer the question of whether there were functional differences between epineurial repairs, fascicular repairs and electrical stimulation matched fascicular repairs in primates. The repairs were done randomly and the type of repair was concealed from the evaluators. The evaluators' endpoints were muvolts measured by EMG. The researchers concluded, "Statistical analysis...demonstrates that [the groups with fascicular] suture have an EMG value of 500 muV or more, to a significantly greater degree, with p = 0.07 level of probability, than does epineural suture". Lost in mists of time are the names of statistical tests done and the authors' rationale for rejecting the null hypothesis at the 0.07 level. Unforgotten is the fact that the senior author won the First Prize in the 1969 Essay Contest of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons' Educational Foundation because it judged the research sufficiently meritorious. Saving the world's supply of Epsom salts At the December 1971 British Association of Plastic Surgeons meeting, Acland reported a blinded study on 0.5 mm rat epigastric arteries to see if MgSO4 (Epsom salts) prevented thrombosis. In systemically heparinized rats, he found that one-hour post-anastomosis 6/20 controls were patent while 18/20 MgSO4 treated were patent.