Decision aiding in plastic surgery: a multicriteria analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The aim of this article is to present, through a real case, a practical way, based on Multicriteria Decision Aiding, to support decision making in Plastic Surgery. The case studied was a Caucasian woman of 36 years of age with mammarian hypertrophia with ptosis and abdominal lipodystrophy, making it necessary to select the most adequate techniques for the best aesthetic result. For this purpose, the multicriteria methods Even Swaps and PrOACT were used. Three plastic surgeons working in the city of Rio de Janeiro with equivalent professional experience were consulted as decision agents. In order to define the objectives to be achieved, the criteria relevant to the making of the decision and the alternatives which could be used were identified. Throughout this identification and in the later analysis the surgeons participated in the application of the methods, which contributed towards facilitating their acceptance of the multicriteria analysis in their decision making. It was confirmed, in this case study, that the use of Multicriteria Decision Aiding tends to make the medical decision more wide ranging and, above all, transparent. The plastic surgeons themselves validated the analysis, considering it fully consistent with their professional experience.

A Criterion Utility Conversion Technique for Probabilistic Linguistic Multiple Criteria Analysis in Emergency Management

“…Lahtinen et al (2020) put forward four new techniques to mitigate biases in the even swap process, improving the accuracy of results. Besides these theoretical developments, the even swaps method were also applied in several realms, such as the strategy selection in a rural enterprise (Kajanus et al, 2001), plastic surgery (Gomes et al, 2012), and site selection of reservoir (Milutinovic et al, 2018).…”

“…Due to this advantage, the even swaps method has attracted much attention, and its theoretical developments were mainly in three directions including the software development (Mustajoki & Hämäläinen, 2005, 2007, the combination with other methods (Dereli & Altun, 2012;Elahi & Yu, 2012;Li & Ma, 2008), and the consideration of biases (Lahtinen & Hämäläinen, 2016;Lahtinen et al, 2020). Meanwhile, the even swaps method have been applied to many realms (Gomes et al, 2012;Kajanus et al, 2001;Milutinovic et al, 2018). The studies of the even swaps method on the software development and the combination with other methods extended the scope of applications of the even swaps method.…”

On preference elicitation processes which mitigate the accumulation of biases in multi-criteria decision analysis

“…Software support for the Even Swaps method is provided by the Smart-Swaps software Hämäläinen 2005, 2007). The Even Swaps method is well known but there is a surprisingly limited number of reported applications (Kajanus et al 2001, Gregory and Wellman 2001, Wakshull 2002, Hurley and Andrews 2003, Luo and Cheng 2006, Gomes et al 2012, and Altun et al 2016. Dereli and Altun (2012) have developed an extension of the Even Swaps method to negotiation support.…”