Publication Trends in Aesthetic Breast Surgery: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Background Aesthetic breast surgery (ABS) encompasses breast augmentation, breast reduction, mastopexy and mastopexy-augmentation. This topic has been seldom assessed as a bibliometric study. This analysis aims to address this gap and identify trends in ABS literature to guide future research areas. Bibliometrics, the quantitative analysis of publications, particularly scholarly literature, offer valuable insights into research trends and impact. Objectives This analysis aims to address this gap and identify trends in ABS literature to guide future research areas. Methods The 100 most cited publications in ABS were identified on Web of Science, across all available journal years (from 1953 to 2024). Study details, including the citation count, main content focus, and outcome measures were extracted and tabulated from each publication. Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (OCEBM) & Levels of Evidence (LOE) of each study were assessed. Results The 100 most cited publications in ABS were cited by a total of 11522 publications. Citations per publication ranged from 46 to 1211 (mean 115.2 ± 135.7), with the highest-cited study being the Pusic BREAST-Q paper (n = 1211). A majority of publications were LOE 4 (n = 30), representative of the large number of case series. The number of publications for LOE 5, 3, 2 and 1 was 12, 28, 21 and 9, respectively. The main content focus was ‘outcomes’ in 52 publications, followed by ‘non-operative management’ (n = 12) and ‘surgical technique’ (n = 12). Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) were used in 29 publications, and 53 publications reported aesthetic outcome measures. Conclusions This analysis highlights that research methodologies in ABS studies should be improved. This necessary improvement would be facilitated with vigorous, high-quality research, and the implementation of validated ABS-specific PROMs enhancing patient satisfaction, particularly in aesthetic procedures, such as BREAST-Q.