Hamilton, Ontario, Canada From the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and the Surgical Outcomes Research Center, McMaster University.
Plast Reconstr Surg. 2011 Oct;128(4):361e-368e. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0b013e318221f2ec.
The case series is the most prevalent type of clinical research in the plastic surgery literature. However, this is a lower level study design in the hierarchy of evidence. The case series is nevertheless a useful hypothesis generator for future studies. These in turn can be tested with more robust study designs such as the randomized controlled trial. Because the case series remains the most common study design used to communicate our new innovations, there is a need to improve its reporting so that readers will know why the study was undertaken, what the results were, and how the results affect patient care. The authors provide a guide to help future investigators improve the conduct and the reporting of their case series.
病例系列是整形外科文献中最常见的临床研究类型。然而，这在证据等级中属于较低级别的研究设计。病例系列仍然是未来研究的有用假设生成器。这些研究可以通过更强大的研究设计进行测试，例如随机对照试验。由于病例系列仍然是用于交流新创新的最常见研究设计，因此需要改进其报告，以便读者了解研究的原因、结果以及结果如何影响患者护理。作者提供了一份指南，帮助未来的研究人员改进病例系列的实施和报告。
