Evaluation of the methodological quality of articles on autologous breast reconstruction

Abstract Background Breast cancer remains the most common cancer among women worldwide. Autologous breast reconstruction may contribute toward restoring body image and improving quality of life after mastectomy. This systematic literature review describes differences in the quality and type of studies investigating autologous breast reconstruction techniques over time. Methods MEDLINE was searched for articles related to the surgical techniques, namely, TRAM, LADO, DIEP, and SGAP/IGAP, for the periods 1970 to 2007 and 2008 to 2010. The quality and type of studies were compared across the two time periods. Full-texts were evaluated according to prespecified quality criteria. Results The MEDL…