Mol Med Rep 22: [Related article:] 4351-4359, 2020; DOI:
10.3892/mmr.2020.11501
Following the publication of this paper, an
interested reader drew to the attention of the Editorial Office
that there were potentially concerns regarding the manner in which
the botulinum toxin animal studies had been performed, and also in
terms of the novelty of the study, wherein the authors had claimed
that their study was the first to have explored the use of
botulinum toxin for endometriosis-related pain.
Having asked the authors to comment on these points,
they have conceded that the animal experiments, which were
performed 5 years previously, may have been flawed from the
perspective of the methodology, although the group are no longer
able to contact the person who performed the experiments.
Furthermore, the authors have subsequently re-reviewed the field of
botulinum toxin usage in endometriosis, and concede that their
study has made only an incremental advance in knowledge in this
area. Therefore, on the grounds that this study may have contained
procedural errors in the animal experiments which the authors were
unable to verify on account of having lost contact with the person
who performed them, and in view of the misinformation regarding the
novelty of the study, the authors have requested that the paper be
retracted from the publication. The Editor of Molecular Medicine
Reports has agreed that the paper should be retracted;
moreover, the authors apologize to the readership for any
inconvenience caused.
